The Guy Next Door
by Ultrawoman
Summary: *COMPLETE* Buffy Summers has enough problems with her life as it is. Things can only get worse when her best friend who lived next door moves out and a new family moves in...right? Sort of AU. B/S eventually. Please R&R.
1. Old & New

A/N : This is an AU story, but Buffy is still the Slayer and they are in Sunnydale and everything, but I've changed some stuff around. I think the first chapter should explain everything and I hope you all like what I have written so far. This is my first proper Buffy fic (I've only written a couple of songfics before this) so if you do review (which I hope you do) please be kind to me.

Title : The Guy Next Door

Author : Ultrawoman

Rating : PG-13 to be safe for later

Spoilers : no specific episode since this is partly AU.

Feedback : Yes, please, I love reviews - so long as they're not flames!

Summary : Buffy Summers has enough problems with her life as it is and things only get worse when her best friend who lives next door moves away and a new family moves in. B/S eventually.

Disclaimer : Buffy The Vampire Slayer and it's characters does not belong to me in any way, it all belongs to important people like Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Chapter 1

"I'm going to miss you so much" Buffy's eyes began to water as she hugged her best friend. Cordelia Chase and her family had lived next door to the Summers family since Cordy and Buffy were five years old. Now, eleven years later, the Chase's were moving out and the two best friends didn't know how they would cope without the other.

"I'll miss you too" Cordelia sighed as she pulled out of the hug and headed over to the car where her parents were waiting. "I'll write and call and email and everything" she promised as she climbed into the back of the car and waved wildly at the Summers family as the vehicle pulled away.

"Come on, honey" Buffy's mother, Joyce, put a comforting arm around her daughter as they stood on the sidewalk watching the car disappear, "It's not the end of the world"

"But she was my best friend" the girl cried.

"But you still have your other friends" her mother reminded her, leading her into the house, "Like Willow and Xander and..." she trailed off realising that maybe her daughter didn't have as many friends as she'd originally thought.

"And you have me" Dawn smiled.

"That's different" Buffy shrugged as she pushed passed the thirteen year old to go upstairs, "You're my sister"

The blonde teen went to her room and flopped down on her bed. As if life wasn't hard enough already! She was the Slayer, the one girl chosen to fight all vampires and other evil in the world and despite the help she got from Willow and Xander, and her Watcher, Mr Giles, it wasn't a whole lot of fun, especially living in Sunnydale, home of the hellmouth. She didn't have time to be popular and her circle of friends was small, and to top it all off her best friend, out of the few she had, was gone. To sum up, Buffy had every reason to be depressed, or at least that was the way she saw it. A sixteen year old with hardly any friends, no boyfriend, no father, an annoying little sister, slipping grades at school, and the responsibility of keeping the world all anti-evil and non-apocalypse-y. Where would it all end.

* * * * *

"So, Cordy's gone for good?" Buffy's friend Xander Harris asked through a mouthful of his lunch.

"Yep" Buffy nodded sadly, "Left yesterday, no intention of return" she sighed, picking at the food in front of her before dismissing it completely.

"Well, you still have us" Willow said cheerfully, although she wondered if that was actually as much of a comfort as she'd originally thought.

"I know" Buffy forced a smile, "and I love you guys, of course I do, but, I'm still gonna miss Cordy, I mean, I've known her all my life"

"Well, how about we go to the Bronze tonight?" Xander suggested, finally swallowing, "Dance all your cares away?"

"Wish I could but got the whole patrolling thing and stack of homework a mile high" the blonde sighed.

"How about tomorrow?" Willow tried as her friend stood up, "You can't mourn forever" she said with a small smile and Buffy relented.

"Okay, tomorrow it is" she agreed before wandering off, leaving the red headed witch and Xander behind.

* * * * *

"Hi Buffy, how was school?" Joyce asked as her older daughter arrived home.

"Fine" she called back, "I'm going to my room - homework" she explained briefly before hurrying up the stairs. She didn't want to be social right now, not with her family or her friends, she just wanted to be alone. In fact, she was actually quite looking forward to patrolling tonight. Just her, the stakes, the vamps, the peace and quiet...

"Buffy?"

"What is it Mom?" she called from the top of the stairs and Joyce appeared at the bottom. 

"I just found out that the new neighbours arrive tomorrow afternoon so I hope you weren't planning on going anywhere tomorrow after school"

"But I'm supposed to be going out with Xander and Willow..."

"Sorry Buffy, but I want us to be sociable with the new neighbours"

"We shouldn't have new neighbours" Buffy muttered as she walked into her room, "Cordy never should have left" she slumped down on her bed and cursed under her breath.

She didn't want to meet the new neighbours, because she didn't want them to be there. She wanted everything to go back to normal, not that her life was very normal anyway, but when Cordy was next door there was at least some normalcy in her life. They would do what all sixteen year olds do; go shopping for clothes at weekends, discuss guys and make-up while they do their homework together, watch sappy films and eat ice-cream together when they got depressed. But now it was all different. Who knows what the new neighbours would be like. 

"Well, this time tomorrow, I guess I'll find out" Buffy sighed as she got out her books and made a start on her homework.

* * * * *

"That's okay" Willow smiled despite her disappointment, "We can go dancing any time"

"Believe me" Buffy said, putting her books in her locker, "I would much rather be at the Bronze with you guys tonight than at home meeting the new neighbours. I never asked for new neighbours"

"Come on Buff" Xander out his hand on her shoulder, "It might not be so bad. They might be good people"

"I guess" the girl shrugged, "but I'd still rather have the Chase's living there"

"How was patrol last night?" Willow changed the subject as the three friends walked to class.

"Fine" Buffy nodded, "dusted two vamps, no biggy. That's another problem though"

"What is?" Xander didn't understand.

"Well, I have to hide that I'm..." she dropped her voice, "the Slayer" she whispered, "but you two know and so did Cordy but now who knows what kind of people will live next door, and I'm gonna have to be more careful"

"Well, maybe they'll be a new girl you can be friends with, like Cordy, and they can join the Scoobies" Willow tried to be positive.

"I guess it could happen" Buffy shrugged for the fourth time in as many minutes, "I don't even know if there are any kids in the new family"

"Well, just a few more hours and you'll find out"

* * * * *

"Buffy! Buffy!" Dawn yelled as she ran up the stairs, "the new neighbours are here!"

"Big deal" the older girl said to herself as she came out of her room to meet her sister.

"There's just two people" Dawn explained, "A woman and a guy"

"Like a couple?" Buffy asked as the two sisters went back downstairs. That was all she needed, loves young dream living next door.

"No" Dawn laughed, "She's too old to be married to him, I think she's his mother. I didn't get a good look at him though, he was carrying a box into the house but he could be cute"

Buffy laughed a little. Trust her sister to think of that. She'd had her nose up against the window since she'd got home from school hoping to catch a glimpse of anything, or anyone, worth seeing.

"Come and look!" she begged, dragging her sister toward the living room window, but there was no-one outside.

"They must still be inside the house" Dawn guessed, "but keep watching they'll come out soon"

It turned out the young girl was wrong. Whilst she'd been busy finding Buffy and telling her about the neighbours, said neighbours had come out of the house and were making there way to the Summer's front door to introduce themselves.

Joyce answered the doorbell and it never occurred to the girls in the living room that it would be their new neighbours behind it and so they didn't move. 

"Girls what are you doing?" Joyce asked, causing both of them to turn suddenly. In the doorway was their mother, another woman of a similar age and a third person behind them who was barely visible from this angle.

Joyce didn't wait for an answer to her question she just introduced the new neighbours and her daughters.

"This is Buffy" she gestured "and Dawn" she told the woman beside her "and this is Jessica Hart" she told her daughters.

"It's very nice to meet you" Jessica smile kindly, she seemed like a nice enough woman. "And this is my son" she added, stepping aside to reveal the young man behind her, "this is William"

A/N : Like the idea or not? Please review and let me know what you think so far.


	2. When Buffy Met Spike

A/N : Wow, I can't beleive I got ten reviews on my first chapter. I was so worried no-one would like my idea. Thanks to everyone who did review, you're all very kind. 

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

* * * * *

Chapter 2

Dawn's mouth hung open and her eyes went wide. She couldn't remember ever seeing such a gorgeous guy. Buffy shoved her sister slightly to bring her out of her daze, although she could see why Dawn would be so enamoured.

This guy, William apparently, was taller than Buffy and wore mostly black. His hair was peroxide blonde and styled in spikes on top of his head, beneath which was his smiling face, with high cheek bones and blue eyes so bright they could blind you if you looked at them too long.

"Nice to meet you" he said smoothly, in an accent Dawn wasn't familiar with. It was almost completely English but it had an edge to it that was all it's own.

"You too" Buffy replied, when her sister said nothing. Dawn just blushed furiously after realising she'd been staring so obviously. William barely noticed the embarrassed girl since his attention was caught on her older sister. Buffy noticed the way he was staring at her and it was making her decidedly uncomfortable.

"Er, I'll go and make some coffee" she smiled, desperate to get out of the room.

"Oh, thankyou, Buffy" her mother was slightly surprised by her older daughters helpfulness, she wasn't usually so willing to do things like that.

"I'll lend a hand" William offered and was out of the room, following Buffy before anyone could object.

Joyce and Jessica just smiled at each other and sat down and Dawn frowned as she took a seat beside her mother, finally realising that the most gorgeous guy she'd ever seen seemed to prefer her sister.

"Thought I'd help out" William said from the kitchen doorway, as Buffy got some cups from the cupboard.

"It's fine" Buffy told him without actually turning around, "I can do it"

"Buffy" he said her name, which finally got her full attention, "That's an interesting name" he smiled, moving over and leaning back on the worktop.

"Thankyou" she smiled with fake sweetness, "My mother gave it to me, just like your mother gave you yours, William"

As easy on the eye as this person was, she didn't have time for bad pick up lines. Her life was busy enough, complicated enough and, recently, depressing enough, without the attentions of some Goth-type guy who'd replaced her best friend next door.

"Please don't call me that" he winced, "only my mother calls me William"

"So, what am I supposed to call you?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Well, my friends call me Spike" he grinned and Buffy looked strangely at him.

"The hair" he added as way of an explanation, and she nodded as she glanced up at his spiked, peroxide-coated hair, before going back to her coffee making.

"So" she sighed after a while, her curiosity getting the better of her, "where are you from, Spike?"

"London originally" he told her, happy she was showing some interest in him.

"Oh, in England" Buffy nodded, "hence the accent" she said, more to herself than to him, "But your Mom, she didn't sound English"

"Oh no, Mum's not a Brit, she was working over there, met my Dad there, he was English"

"Was?" Buffy echoed, "you mean he's..." she was about to say dead before realising how tactless she was being. She was so used to life and death situations because of what and who she was, it never occurred to her she shouldn't just say it until it was too late.

"No, he's alive" Spike told her, "At least I reckon so"

Buffy didn't understand and told him as much as she put the cups of coffee on a tray.

"He doesn't even know I exist" the young man admitted bitterly, "Got my Mum pregnant and disappeared"

"That's awful" Buffy gasped but he shrugged like it was no big deal.

"In fairness to the old man he didn't know about it. Mum tried to find him but seemed he'd flitted the country. I never even met him"

"I'm sorry" the blonde girl said honestly, and she thought her life was tough. Her Mum and Dad might be divorced but at least she knew who he was.

"Not your fault, pet" Spike gave her a half smile and offered to carry the tray of coffee for her. She let him take it and held the kitchen door open for him.

When the two young people arrived back in the living room, they found their mothers and Dawn laughing loudly. It seemed Joyce and Jessica had a lot in common and were getting on like a house on fire. Even Dawn was enjoying herself although her enjoyment increased when William returned to the room.

"So have you two been getting to know each other?" Jessica asked them and Buffy smiled back at her.

"Yes, Spike was just telling me a little fmaily history"

"Spike?" Joyce repeated what she thought her daughter had said.

"William's friends call him Spike" Jessica explained to her new friend and neighbour, "because of his hair" Buffy noticed she didn't look as if she approved of either the name or the reason for it.

"Spike's a cool name" Dawn grinned at him and Buffy rolled her eyes at how much of a child her sister really was. She was so obvious!

"Well thankyou Dawn" he smiled back at her, "You have a very nice name yourself"

The younger girl blushed at that, which got another eye roll from Buffy and Spike saw this one. Did the older girl not approve of his attention to her younger sister? Well that was worth knowing. Anything that got Buffy's attention, in any way, was well worth knowing about.

* * * * *

"Well, I think perhaps we should be going" said Jessica as she checked her watch. She and her son had spent several hours in their new next door neighbours house getting better acquanted and drinking a lot of coffee.

"It was lovely to meet you all" she continued, getting up from her seat, "but I have a lot to do tomorrow and William has to start at his new school"

"You going to Sunnydale High, Spike?" Dawn asked him as she too stood up.

"Yes, looks that way" he smiled as he turned to Buffy, "I guess I'll see you there"

"Oh I'm sure Buffy would walk in with you tomorrow and show you around" Joyce offered and her daughter inwardly cringed. She was already considered a freak by half of the school, hanging around with a guy like Spike was going to lower her cred rating even further, even if he was kind of cute...still, the eldest Summers girl painted on a fake smile and agreed to her mothers suggestion.

"That's very kind of you Buffy" Jessica smiled brightly.

"Yes, thanks Buffy" her son smirked, seeing the annoyance visible on the girls face, despite her best efforts to hide it. She wouldn't look at him, she was getting really bored of his staring at her all the time.

"No problem" she said quickly as the new neighbours, followed by Dawn and Joyce, left the room and made for the front door.

Buffy stayed behind and flopped back down into the chair again.

Jessica seemed like a nice enough woman and she'd be a new friend for Joyce which was good. Then Buffy thought of Wiliam, of Spike, and he was probably an okay person too but it was annoyingly obvious that Dawn was head over heels for him. He wasn't half bad to look at but what was with the whole black wardrobe thing? No doubt it was some kind of statement that wouldn't make sense to her, plus all the staring he did was drivng her crazy.

All in all, Buffy wished Cordy and her family would just come back. The new neighbours would be okay but she preffered the old ones and who knew what kind of negative reaction she'd get tomorrow when she showed up for school with Spike in tow.

* * * * *

"So, Will, you think you're going to like it here?" Jessica asked her son as they headed for their own front door.

"Don't see why not" he shrugged.

"Well, you certainly seemed to like the neighbours" his mother smiled as she unlocked the door and they went inside.

"Nice enough people" he answered, pretending not to understand, but of course he did. 

There was something about Buffy Summers, he didn't know what it was, but he knew he liked it, whatever it was. For some reason she didn't seem to be his biggest fan, he thought as he went up to his room, no, that title seemed to belong to Dawn. She was nice enough, but too young for Spike, and she hadn't got whatever it was Buffy had. Besides, the older Summers was more of a challenge, and if there was one thing Spike enjoyed, it was a good challenge.

* * * * *

A/N : I've already started the next chapter so I will update again soon, and in the meantime, reviews are very welcome.


	3. Friends

A/N : Thanks to everyone who left reviews on chapter two. Of course, I write for my own enjoyment of writing but it always makes me feel even better about a story when the readers leave nice comments for me. Hope you all continue to enjoy this.

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

* * * * * 

Chapter 3

"Buffy! Dawn! Can you two girls please hurry up!"

"Ready Mom!" Dawn replied, thundering down the stairs to where her mother was waiting for her. Joyce drove her younger daughter to school most mornings whilst Buffy used to walk to the high school with Cordelia. Today, however, she would be accompanied by the new boy next door.

"Buffy!" Joyce yelled again, "I'm taking Dawn to school now. Hurry up, you don't want to make William late on his first day"

"Yes, Mom" Buffy called back just before she heard two shouts of 'goodbye' and the front door clicking shut behind her mother and sister.

Finally the girl came down the stairs, dressed in a fairly tight, red short sleeved T-shirt and black pants. Her hair was pushed back into a ponytail and she hadn't had much time to put a whole lot of make-up on. Still, it was only school so it didn't matter.

Buffy glanced in the hall mirror for no particular reason as she pulled on her jacket and picked up her bag. As she came out of the front door, as if it were planned, Spike emerged from his house too.

"Good morning, luv" he smiled as he came over to her.

"Hi" she said flatly, noticing he was obviously very into the all-over-black look, since he was wearing jeans, T-shirt, leather jacket and boots all in that colour. The bag slung over his shoulder was also black and blended in with the rest of him. The only thing that really stood out was the hair that gave him his nickname.

She wasn't really aware she was staring at him until he spoke again.

"Something wrong?"

"What?" Buffy shook her head as if to clear it before she answered, "No, nothing wrong, except it's a school day" she smiled and started walking, expecting him to follow her, which he did.

"Schools not your favourite place to be then?" he asked as he fell into step with her.

"Not really" she shook her head before adding "especially not since everyone started leaving" She hadn't really meant to say that part aloud but it was a little late now.

"Who left?" he asked and half of her wanted to tell him while the other half felt like telling him to mind his own business. She was conflicted for a second and then decided it might be nice to have someone to talk to about it all.

"First my boyfriend, Angel, well, ex-boyfriend" she corrected herself, and had to swallow hard as she felt a lump in her throat even now when she thought about him. 

"You don't have to tell me, pet" Spike smiled, kindly, "Not if it upsets you"

"It's okay" she smiled back, bravely, "I'm fine" she lied, "It just didn't work out, we were too...different"

'If only he understood just how different' she thought to herself.

"Well that's only one person who left you" Spike pointed out, "and he must have been a bloody stupid bloke to let you go" he added not actually looking at her when he said it and she was glad as she felt herself blush.

"Well, then Cordy left" Buffy continued after a moment, looking at ground as she walked, "she was my best friend, used to live next door, but she left and now..."

"Now, you're stuck with me instead" Spike interrupted.

"Yeah" Buffy answered without thinking, "Oh, I'm sorry" she said quickly, realising she had probably offended him without really meaning to.

"No, that's okay, pet" he told her, even though it had hurt a little. He had sort of hoped she might at least like him a bit.

"Anyway you must have other friends, besides this Cordy" he continued, "and plenty of male hearts must be under your command" he added, quietly, but she heard it. Despite the fact she wasn't really interested in liking him in that way, or at all really, he was being sweet.

"I only have three real friends" she found herself telling him, before catching herself and putting the barriers back up, "And not that it's any of your business but I don't have a boyfriend"

Spike silently thanked all the forces above that at least the girl was single, as Buffy's curiosity got the better of her.

"So what about you?" she asked, glancing at him.

"Well, I haven't got a boyfriend" he smirked and she laughed genuinely at that.

"You know what I mean - friends? girlfriend?" she prompted, 'not that I actually care' she tried to convince herself, as they entered the school gates now.

"To be honest I didn't have a whole lot of time for friends, and people didn't have a lot of time for me either so that worked out nicely" he laughed humourlessly before turning serious again and continuing, "There was a girl, we grew up together and then dated for a while about a year ago" he sighed "but me and Dru, we were just too different I s'pose"

"Like me and Angel" Buffy said without thinking, causing them both to glance at the other at the same time.

"Yeah" said Spike as their eyes met for a second, "Looks like we might have more in common than you thought, luv"

"Buffy!" 

Their would-be 'moment' was interrupted by a loud yell of her name from an approaching red-headed female.

"Hey Will, Xander" Buffy greeted as her two friends wandered over, staring a lot at the young man beside her.

"Guys this is my new next door neighbour William Hart" she used his full name simply to annoy him, and she smirked when she did it, "This is Willow Rosenburg and Xander Harris" she introduced.

"Good to meet you, Will" Xander shook his hand and Spike smiled.

"Call me Spike" he told him.

"Spike?" he echoed as if the word were foreign looking at Buffy for some kind of explanation.

"The hair, right?" Willow guessed and smiled brightly when the black clad figure nodded.

"Smart friend you've got here, Buffy" he said, still looking at Willow who blushed furiously, "Sunnydale must be the place for beautiful, intelligent women"

Willow smiled, glancing at Buffy who rolled her eyes. Xander just looked decidedly annoyed 'I'm not going to like this guy' he thought to himself. Spike thought a similar thing about Xander, knowing almost instantly that this guy liked the girl he wanted more than he might admit.

"Well, I guess I should take you to the main office, get your timetable and stuff" Buffy said suddenly, breaking the glare between the two young men.

"Oh, actually Buffy" Xander had a thought "Giles wanted to see you about that slay..." he stopped mid-word when he realised what he was saying in front of the new boy.

"...slay-very project you're doing for history class" he amended and Buffy and Willow sighed with relief that there less than smart friend had not let out the secret.

"Who's Giles?" Spike wondered aloud, suspicious about Xander's problem with getting out his sentence.

"Librarian" Buffy explained a little too quickly "helping me to find some books for my history project, just like Xander said"

Spike watched a strange glance pass between the three people in front of him. There was definitely something going on.

"So" Willow said, suddenly turning to Buffy "how about I take Spike to the office while you and Xander go see Giles"

"Sounds like a plan" the girl nodded and Xander grinned, happy to get the new boy away from the girl he wanted.

"Lead the way, Willow" Spike smiled, causing her to blush again. "See you at lunch, Buffy?" he called as she started to walk away in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, I guess so" she replied, before turning back to her other friend.

"Nice going, Xander" she commented sarcastically on his earlier slip.

"Sorry" he said quietly, thinking perhaps he didn't want to be alone with the Slayer right now after all.

* * * * *

"So your friend Xander" Spike said to Willow as they walked to the school office together "he likes Buffy, right?"

"Yeah" the red-head sighed "it is the unfortunate truth" she added quietly, but he still heard her.

"You like him?" he guessed.

"What?" she answered too fast "Well, I guess, I kind of, well, yeah" she finally admitted after much rambling. She sighed again "I bet you don't have any problem getting dates" she glanced at him as she said it and he smiled a gorgeous smile.

"As nice a compliment as that is, pet, you'd be surprised" he sighed too "Not quite as popular with some young ladies as I'd like to be" he admitted, thinking primarily of Buffy.

"I'd date you" Willow remarked, before adding "oh god, did I say that out loud?!"

"Yes, luv, you did" Spike told her, trying to stifle a giggle.

"Sorry" she apologise immediately "I mean, why would you want to date me...?" she mumbled.

"Now, come on, Red" he stopped walking and she did too, deciding in that moment she really liked the nickname he used for her "Why not? Just because this Xander bloke can't see your girlfriend potential doesn't mean the rest of the male population is blind"

Willow really appreciated the thought, even though she knew he was probably just being nice. She smiled genuinely and then turned to keep walking.

"Still, you'd rather date Buffy" she stated rather than asked.

"Didn't know I was so obvious" he said, tilting his head at her.

"You're probably not" the red-head admitted "I'm just perceptive" she paused before adding "and anyway, no offence, but I don't think I could date you either. A lot of people don't like him, but to me, Xander Harrs is the greatest guy I ever met" she said almost dreamily.

"Well, I guess that means you and me will just have to be the dreaded F word" Spike smirked and she looked at him oddly.

"Friends" he explained simply.

"Oh, right yes, friends" Willow laughed at her own lack of brain power "Of course, I think we could be very good friends"

TBC 


	4. Secrets

A/N : Thanx so much to everyone who left reviews on the third chapter - your comments brighten my day! Hope you like this next part.

(For disclamier, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

Buffy sighed as the lunch bell rang. She had spent hours in the school library with Giles, training, discussing patrol, reading up on demons.

"I can't believe how much time I've spent in here today" she said, closing the book she'd been reading until her eyes gave in and the words started to blur. 

"Yes, we have worked rather hard, haven't we?" Giles admitted, surveying the room.

"First thing this morning, through two study periods" Buffy rubbed her eyes "please could I have a little of my lunch break to myself?" she pleaded.

"Very well" her Watcher nodded "just put those books back over there for me" he pointed to the far side shelf "and you're free to go"

With that he disappeared behind another bookcase at the back of the room, as Buffy went to the shelves behind the door and put away various volumes about vampires, demons and other creatures of the night.

"Buffy?" startled by the sound of her name, the girl almost jumped out of her skin. She peered round the door to greet the owner of the voice, making him jump too.

"Spike, hi, did you want something?"

"Found the library on my map" he smiled, waving the piece of paper he'd been given at her "thought I'd walk you to lunch"

Before she could give any kind of answer, Giles reappeared, unaware of Spike's presence in the room.

"Buffy, about last nights patrol..." he started, looking at the book in his hands rather than at the person he was talking to.

"Giles" she interrupted, causing him to look up suddenly and realise there was a non-Slayer-secret-knowing person in the room. 

"I'd like you to meet a new student and my new next door neighbour" Buffy continued "this is Spike"

"Pleased to meet you, er, Spike" Giles held out a hand to shake the young mans and Spike took it.

"Good to know you, Mr Giles" he said with a smile but the librarian glanced at Buffy with a questioning look.

"His real name is William Hart, Spike's just a nick-name" she explained "...the hair" she added as further explanation.

"Ah, indeed" the older man nodded as he released the boys hand "and you're British too by the sounds of that accent"

"Technically, yes" Spike started, but Buffy did not want to go over the entire explanation again, she just wanted to get out of the library for five minutes.

"Well, I'm gonna go grab some lunch with Willow and Xander" she said, grabbing her jacket and bag "and Spike apparently" she added, a slight annoyance in her tone "See you tomorrow Giles" she called, practically flying out the door, Spike close behind her.

They walked side by side toward the cafeteria in silence. Spike was beginning to think he was more right than he thought with his idea that there was something different about Buffy Summers. Twice already today people had started to say things to Buffy and seemed to change their mind when they realised he was there. He was more than intrigued now.

"You so friendly with all the staff, pet?" he asked the blonde beside him.

"What?" she answered, too loud and too fast.

"You seem pretty close to that Giles bloke and you've spent half your day in that library" he commented.

"I had work to do, requiring books, that's all" she shrugged. It was only a half lie after all. When Spike was silent she thought she'd won - he was going to let the subject go. She was wrong.

"So, what's 'patrol'?" he asked next.

"Patrol?" she echoed as if she didn't understand him.

"Yeah, when your friend Giles came over to us he mentioned 'last night's patrol'" he said, watching her face turn a little paler.

"Really?" she made a face as if she had no idea what he meant but he could see in her eyes that she understood completely "I don't know...." she trailed off, suddenly becoming very grateful when she saw her friends at a nearby table. 

"Hey Willow!" she called as she bounded over to her. Spike shook his head as he followed her. She was covering something, he knew it, and he would find out what it was.

Spike didn't talk much during lunch, he just listened and watched, waiting for someone to say or do something that might help him better understand what was going on, because something was going on, he just didn't know what yet. 

Buffy had been too uncomfortable about the whole 'patrol' thing and Xander had changed what he was going to say in the morning - what was it they were hiding? Whatever it was the chances were that Willow and that librarian, Giles, were in on it too. 

'Willow' he thought to himself, 'we agreed to be friends, me and her, maybe she'll tell me something' But lunch was over and they headed off to their different classes. Spike sighed, it didn't matter. The friends had all decide to go out together in the evening and Willow had insisted Spike come along, much to Buffy's, and more notably Xander's, annoyance.

* * * * *

Spike had planned to walk home from school in the same company as he had walked to it, but Buffy had said she needed to stay behind to see Giles again. Spike couldn't decide whether that was her way of telling him she didn't want to be anywhere near him or whether she really did need to see the librarian again, but either way he wasn't happy about it.

He walked fairly quickly home, just wanting to get there, almost as if getting to his house faster would make the night come quicker, make the time when he could see Buffy again arrive sooner. 'God, what is wrong with me?!' he wondered to himself as his house came into view 'All wound up over some secretive girl who doesn't even like me! I must be crazy'

Jessica came from the kitchen when she heard her son at the front door.

"Good first day at school Will?" she smiled, still drying a plate on a dish towel in her hands.

"Not so bad" he shrugged following her back toward the kitchen, but then changing his mind and heading for the stairs.

"Well don't just disappear, tell be about it" she called and he stopped short on the bottom step. Sighing he turned back. 

"Not much to tell" he shrugged, entering the room behind her as she dried the rest of the dishes "Met Buffy's friends, went to classes, came home, no big deal"

"Does Buffy have a lot of friends?" his mother asked, glancing over at him, then back at what she was doing.

"No, not really" he told her, suddenly thinking how strange it was that someone that seemed so nice and beautiful and everything could be so short of friends. 

"There's a girl called Willow" he explained "she's okay, and then Xander..." he made a face as he remembered that particular friend of Buffy's. He wanted to be more than her friend and that made him competition to Spike. 

"Oh and she seems pretty close to the librarian bloke Mr Giles..." he continued, but stopped speaking as his Mum spun on her heel and sent the plate in her hand crashing to the tiled floor. Shards of porcelain shot out in all directions and Jessica gripped the worktop.

"You alright Mum?" Spike checked, moving toward her.

She steadied herself and smiled a fake smile.

"Er, yes, I'm fine" she assured him.

"You sure?" he asked, moving forward and taking her arm "You look pale"

"Honestly" she said, taking his hand off her arm so she could move and find the dustpan and brush "the plate just slipped, that's all"

"Okay" said Spike, dubiously, clearly not convince but willing to let it go for now "if you're sure then I'm going to get to the homework because Buffy and her mates invited me to go out with them tonight. That's okay, right?" he asked, turning back from the kitchen door.

"Er, yeah, of course" his mother smiled, now on her hands and knees, clearing up the shattered crockery.

* * * * *

Buffy was getting ready to go to the Bronze. She was happy to be going out with her friends as she always had a good time, but knowing Spike was going to be there made things different. She didn't like him and she didn't want him there, but it wasn't just her dislike of him that made her wish he wouldn't be joining them tonight. She felt guilty and she hated herself for it, but she had told Spike she had to see Giles after school so she could get out of walking home from school with him. Truth is, she had waited ten minutes and then followed on home. Why she felt guilty about it she couldn't understand at all. 

'It's not like I care about him or anything' she thought to herself, pulling on her jacket and checking her hair in the mirror, 'even if he is gorgeous and sweet and...' her mind started to ramble and Buffy wanted to scream at her own brain for thinking such things. He wasn't gorgeous and sweet, he was ugly and annoying, she told herself as she said goodbye to her Mom and Dawn and promised not to be late back. 

Buffy came out of the front door, still telling herself how much she hated her new next door neighbour and she was doing quite well until she saw him standing there, waiting for her.

Still in the same black boots and leather jacket he had been in earlier, but now Spike wore dark blue jeans and a paler blue T-shirt that brought out a similar shade in his eyes. He looked striking, just standing there by the light of the street lamps.

"Something the matter, luv ?" he asked her when she didn't move or speak. It hadn't occurred to her she'd been staring quite so much and it annoyed her that she had.

"Yes" she snapped, "I have to spend an evening with you, that's what the matter is"

He just smirked at her, a smirk that she noticed was annoyingly attractive, and Buffy found herself thinking thoughts about this guy that were disturbing to her. 

The more she thought about it, as they walked towards the Bronze in silence, the more Buffy was finding it hard to remember why she was fighting so hard to hate this guy, it would be much easier to like him right now. 

Then she thought of Angel, her first and only love. 'Look how well that turned out', she thought to herself. She really didn't know Spike that well and she was determined not to go falling for someone unsuitable again. She tried to put the thoughts out of her head and just concentrate on enjoying herself as they reached the hang-out where Willow and Xander would be waiting for them.


	5. The Bronze & A Mothers Meeting

A/N : Before we get to the new chapter, I just want to say a big thankyou to everyone who has left reviews on my story so far. This is my first proper Buffy fic and I was nervous about posting it here, but so many people have left nice comments and I really appreciate them all. So, thankyou to; nikki, spikes-luv, SpikeyZebra, Jen, wolf116, Rachel, pokey, buffsterangelicxws, Jaymi, Maeve, fictionfreak, Jayne, Randy Bly, Vette, Desirae, Summer, christianne, BB, kattie, Lady Maria, Caitlin - I hope I didn't miss anybody! Now here's the next chapter.

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 5

"Hey Buff, good timing I'm just getting drinks" Xander smiled as his friend came toward the table at the Bronze, deliberately ignoring the man with her.

"Soda would be good" Buffy replied and Spike nodded that he wanted one too, "Tell you what, I'll come with and help carry" she offered, and Xander was only too pleased to take the girl with him and away from the bleached boy wonder.

"Hey Red" Spike greeted, hopping onto the stool next to Willow.

"Hi Spike, you okay?" she smiled.

"Yeah, kind of glad those two disappeared though I wanted a word" he leaned closer to her as he spoke and she eyed his suspisciously.

"What's up?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you actually" he admitted, "Twice today people have been talking to Buffy and changed what they were saying when they saw me there. What's the big secret?"

"Secret?" Willow echoed, like she didn't understand. She shifted uncomfortably as Spike continued to stare at her, awaiting an answer, "I d-don't know what you mean, th-there's no secret"

"You sure?" he checked, not at all convinced, "Cos I thought we were going to be friends, I hope you wouldn't lie to me"

"Of course not" Willow giggled nervously, "Why would I lie?"

At that moment Xander and Buffy came back with drinks for everybody and the conversation changed to other topics. 

Spike knew Willow was lying, he could tell, and she made sure they were never alone long enough for him to ask anymore, which made him all the more suspicious. Whatever this secret was it had to be something big otherwise she wouldn't have looked so scared when he asked about it. Spike was determined he would find out what was going on, and if Willow wouldn't tell him, maybe he should get the information straight from Buffy.

* * * * *

A knock on the front door startled Joyce as she sat half asleep watching TV. Dawn was in bed and Buffy had gone out with her friends and their mother had just been relaxing in front of a soap opera after a hard days work. She turned off the TV and went to the front door and she was a little surprised to see Jessica on the other side.

"Hi Jessica, did you need something?" Mrs Summers asked the woman.

"Hi Joyce, I just, this is really awkward but can I come in?" the woman rambled and Joyce nodded and opened the door wider to let her new neighbour into the house.

She took her new friend through to the living room and they sat down on the sofa.

"Is everything okay?" Joyce asked, noticing that Jessica seemed to be very nervous or upset about something.

"Not really" she admitted, "And I know this seems strange because we've only known each other for a day but I really needed someone to talk to and I don't know anyone around here and..." she stopped talking as a lump came to her throat and tears came to her eyes.

"Oh, it's okay, I don't mind" Joyce said comfortingly as she handed her a tissue. Jessica managed a small smile.

"Thankyou" she sniffed, "It's just I found out today...I think Will's father is in Sunnydale and it was a shock finding out"

"William's father?" Joyce echoed, "I think you said he didn't know his father?" she checked she remembered correctly what she had been told by this woman the day before.

"No, he doesn't know him" Jessica confirmed, "In fact Rupert doesn't even know Will exists" she admitted, "My family moved to England when I was just sixteen. I met him there and we fell head over heels for each other. We dated for two years and I thought it was forever but then one day he just disappeared and I never saw him again. I was broken hearted, then I found out I was pregnant with Will. I didn't know where to look for his father, I had no way of contacting him. Anyway, we got along without him and I never expected to see him again but then Will came home from school today and told me about the librarian, Mr Giles, and, well, it could be a coincidence but..."

"Rupert Giles is William's father?" Joyce finally thought she understood. Jessica nodded that it was true before she started crying again.

There was a moment of silence as Jessica tried to be calm and Joyce was unsure what the most tactful thing to say next was. Eventually she thought of something neutral.

"Can I get you a coffee?" she offered and her friend nodded.

"Yes please, that would be great"

* * * * *

It was getting pretty late at the Bronze and Buffy realised maybe she should get to the patrolling and then home to bed.

"Okay guys" she said, standing up from her stool, three pairs of eyes following her, "I'm beat, I'm gonna head home"

Xander and Willow nodded, knowing that Buffy meant she needed to patrol.

"Want us to come with?" the male of the two asked her but Buffy shook her head.

"No, I'll be fine. You guys stay and have fun"

"Actually I'm getting kind of tired myself" Spike said suddenly, "I'm gonna call it a night too"

"You don't have to leave just cos I am" Buffy told him, knowing that if he left she was going to have to walk home with him and she couldn't go patrolling as planned.

"Well, I told you I'm tired anyway" he shrugged, "Besides, can't have a lady walking home alone in the dark" he smiled, but Buffy just pushed past him on her way out of the Bronze, muttering something about being able to take care of herself on the way.

"Hey wait up, Goldilocks" Spike called as he hurried to reach her.

"That's not my name" she snapped 'God, this guy is irritating'

"Sorry, Buffy" he stressed her name, not wanting to annoy her anymore than was necessary.

Buffy walked quickly with big strides, wanting to get home and away from Spike as fast as possible. It had annoyed her intensely that he had wanted to walk her home anyway since now she would have to pretend to go to bed and go out of her window for patrol like she had done before. Neither her mother or her sister had any idea that she was the Slayer or even that vampires and demons existed and she planned to keep it that way 'They'd probably have me certified if I tried to explain'.

"Y'know for someone who's supposed to be tired you walk bloody fast" Spike complained, struggling to keep up with her.

"I didn't ask you to walk with me" she pointed out, accelerating all the time. Spike decided maybe now wasn't the best time to question the girl. She didn't seem in a very good mood with him - again, and besides at their current speed they would be home very soon.

* * * * *

"So" Joyce sighed as she sipped her coffee and Jessica sipped hers, "Are you going to talk to Rupert about William"

"I should" Jessica admitted, "But, I haven't seen him for over sixteen years, I wouldn't know where to start"

"It's a difficult situation" Joyce nodded, "But in the end it could be a good thing, for William to have a father"

"I know" Jessica agreed, "And I want to tell them, both of them, I just never expected all this when I came here"

The sound of the front door opening and closing again, interrupted the conversation between the two women and Joyce spotted Buffy as she came past the living room door.

"Buffy, you're back early" she smiled and her daughter came into the room.

"I was a little tired" she fake yawned, "So was Spike, so we came home"

Jessica got up from her seat.

"If Will's home then I should go" she said as she stood, "Thanks so much, Joyce" she smiled.

"Anytime you need to talk, I'm here" Mrs Summers replied, following her new friend to the door and seeing her out. As soon as the door was closed Buffy turned to her mother.

"That was Spike's Mom, right? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, honey, she's fine" Joyce faked a smile which Buffy was sure looked dubious but she let it go for now.

"Well, I'm going to bed" she said, hugging her mother, "Night Mom"

"Goodnight Buffy" Joyce replied as her eldest daughter went up the stairs, unaware that as soon as she got to her room she would be leaving it again via the window to go and fight the undead evils of Sunnydale.

TBC


	6. Slaying & More

A/N : Thanx to everyone who left reviews on the previous chapter. This is my longest chapter so far but I had a lot I wanted to get in and I really couldn't split it into two chapters, so be prepared for a very long Spuffy chapter. I apologise if there are any mistakes in this but I don't have a beta for this fic. If you like this, please don't forget to leave a review and tell me - thankyou!

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 6

Spike came in the front door and headed straight for his room, assuming his mother was already in bed. He quite fancied a cigarette so he quietly opened the bedroom window and grabbed the hidden packet from under his bed. His mum would kill him if she found out he smoked, and he knew it, so he kept the habit hidden, either smoking when he was out of the house or if he fancied one when he was at home he'd make sure his mother was out or busy and sit by the open window.

Spike took a cigarette from the box along with his lighter and sat on the sill, hanging half out of the window as he lit up. He put the cigarette to his lips and then breathed the smoke out into the blackness of the night. The moon was almost full and shone brightly in the sky along with many sparkling stars. If he wasn't usually so un-emotional, Spike might have thought it was romantic.

Suddenly a sound broke the idyllic peacefulness of the night and Spike glanced over to the source of the noise. He saw another window open, a way along from his own. A leg appeared followed by another and it was soon obvious the figure coming out of the upstairs window was Buffy.

'What the bloody hell is she doing?' Spike thought to himself as Buffy expertly climbed down the outside of her house and landed with a soft thump as her feet hit the ground. She made it down too easily for this to be the first time she'd done such a thing, but why was she doing it? Spike was curious. Holding his cigarette carefully between his lips, he swung both his legs out of the window and managed to scramble down to the ground, making sure he grabbed the leather jacket he had shed just moments before.

Staying a reasonable distance behind the girl, Spike followed Buffy through the darkness of Sunnydale for several minutes.

'Well, this isn't what I was expecting' Spike thought to himself as the girl turned a corner and crept into a graveyard. He continued to follow, ducking behind trees and tombstones so as not to be seen. Perhaps she was just visiting someone's grave but why sneak out in the middle of the night to do it? Buffy already behaved suspiciously and things were getting more and more strange, Spike was determined to know what her secret was.

Suddenly, Buffy swung around and Spike only just made it behind a large tree before she saw him.

"Let's make this quick and painful" she said and the young man peered around the tree to see two men standing opposite Buffy, "painful for *you*" she amended as she began to kick and punch in the direction of the two strangers. Spike couldn't see their faces at first and was about to run from his hiding place to lend a hand, but as Buffy flipped the 'man' nearest the tree, Spike saw that it wasn't a man at all. The top of it's face was ridged and lumpy and fangs stuck out from it's mouth. It was deathly pale and had an evil yellow gleam in it's eyes.

Spike didn't have time to take in what he'd seen and shock rooted him to the spot as Buffy pulled a wooden stake from her back pocket and plunged it through the creatures heart.

Spike watched, astounded, as the creature disappeared, leaving just dust behind as Buffy turned her attention to the second. It had come up behind her as she dealt with it's accomplice but she swung around before it had even touched her as if she had sensed it's presence. A sharp kick to the face knocked it flying and a stake was soon through it's heart, the remnant dust of the creature falling to the ground with the first.

Buffy brushed the dust from her hands, put the stake back in her pocket and continued to walk through the cemetery as Spike blinked hard, trying to make sense of what he'd seen. Then it occurred to him. The creatures; yellow eyes, fangs, pale skin and lumpy faces, and a stake through the heart to kill them. They were vampires. Now he understood Buffy's secret.

He hurried from his hiding place and followed Buffy down the path. he grabbed at her arm as he caught up to her but that was a big mistake.

Buffy twisted her arm to grab his as his hand caught her. She knocked Spike to the ground, flipping him flat on his back and landing on top of him. She sat straddling him, whipping a stake from her pocket again and raising it above his chest, before realising he was not a demon at all, it was just...

"Spike?" she gasped, breathing heavily from her earlier fight and the struggle just now.

"Slayer?" he guessed, also breathing rapidly, partly from her attack on him but also as a consequence of the position they were currently in. 

"What?" Buffy's eyes went wide as she realised he seemed to know her secret. Her raised arms dropped down in shock and the stake passed gently past Spike's chest where it had been aimed. He smirked annoyingly.

"Lucky I'm not a vampire, ain't it?"

Buffy looked down and then up at his eyes, which was a big mistake she realised as she felt lost in them for a brief moment.

"Oh God..." she said suddenly realising where she was and what she was doing. She rolled off of Spike and got to her feet, offering him a hand up too. They both brushed their clothes off and neither was sure what to say next.

"What are you doing out here?" Buffy said suddenly, hoping he didn't know as much as he seemed to.

"Well I could ask you the same thing" he said, tilting his head at her " 'cept I think I know already. You're the slayer, right?"

Buffy just stared for a second before putting a confused yet defiant look on her face.

"I don't know what you're taking about" she huffed "You're delusional"

She turned to walk away but he dared to grab her arm as she turned again, hoping that now she knew it was him, he might stay on his feet.

"Buffy! You're in a graveyard, past midnight, putting lumps of would through the undead" he exclaimed "now how exactly would you explain that if not with the words 'I am the Slayer'?"

She looked at him carefully and realised he was right. There was no way she could deny it if he'd seen her kill those vampires.

"How do you know about the Slayer?" she wanted to know and Spike looked uncomfortable. He let go of her arm and turned away.

"Does it matter?" he mumbled.

"Yes!" she said incredulously. How could he think it didn't matter?

"I read about it in a book" he sighed in annoyance at having to explain himself "when I was a kid. I found it in the closet in the spare room, I was about ten or something" he explained as he walked and Buffy followed intrigued "It was all about demons and vampires and this Chosen One called the Slayer" he stopped and sat down on a bench and Buffy followed suit, taking a seat beside him "I was gonna ask my mum about it but I wasn't s'posed to be in that room and she'd have gone crazy if she'd have known I'd been in there..." he trailed off, all the time looking away.

"So, you're Mom knows about the Slayer too?" Buffy asked "I mean, it was her book?"

"I dunno" Spike shrugged, leaning his elbows on his knees and looking at the ground "wondered if maybe it was my dad's..." he mumbled.

"Well, maybe we should ask Giles about it" the blonde girl suggested, standing up and walking in front of him "he's actually my Watcher" she explained "he could probably figure out who your father was..."

"Now wait a minute" Spike interrupted, jumping up from the bench "why?"

"Why what?" the girl frowned in confusion as Spike paced.

"Why does it matter who my father was?" he stopped suddenly and asked her with an angry side to his voice.

"Maybe you have a destiny Spike, like I do" she explained "Your father, he might be somebody important in the world of vamps and demons, maybe you are too. If we could find out who he was..."

"I don't want to know!" he yelled over her words, drowning her out completely "I don't want to talk about my bloody father!"

With that, he stormed off, out of the graveyard and back the way they had come. Buffy was shocked by his outburst but soon got over it and hurried after him. 

"What's the matter with you?!" she asked as she caught up to him, spinning him around to face her. He tried not to look at her as he could feel the tears forming in his eyes.

"I don't want to know him, okay?!" he shouted "He obviously didn't want to know me"

"I thought you said he didn't know you existed?" Buffy said, confused.

"He didn't" Spike admitted, his volume dropping "he doesn't, I just..." he trailed off, still looking away. Buffy brought her hand up to his face and made him look at her, just in time to see the tears escape and run down his cheeks.

"Spike..." she spoke softly "I'm sorry" 

She moved her hand away, suddenly realising what she was doing and any 'moment' that might have been starting was broken.

"Not really your fault, pet" Spike sighed, rubbing his face with the back of his hand "Touchy subject is all"

There was silence and they started to walk back home. Buffy couldn't bear the oppressive quiet so she tried to think of something to say.

"Y'know my Dad left too" she said, eventually "My parents got a divorce"

"Doesn't sound like much fun" the young man beside her replied.

"Nope, not at all" she sighed "but I mean, I don't hate him - I can't cos he's my Dad"

"I know what you mean" Spike admitted "God I'm an idiot, I try to act like the big man and look at me now" he laughed humourlessly at himself, wiping away one last stray tear.

"Getting upset about stuff like that doesn't make you any less of a man, Spike" Buffy told him, hoping to help but he just got defensive.

"What do you know?!" he said, somewhat angrily.

"Plenty" Buffy told him, as she stopped walking, and he turned to look at her properly "Haven't you heard? Supreme knowledge comes free with the Slayer strength" she smirked and was pleased to see she'd managed to get a small smile out of him "Oh, thing is, I need you to keep it a secret" she hurriedly added "Willow and Xander know and obviously Giles but no-one else can know"

"That you're the Slayer? Sure, I won't tell" he promised "So long as you don't blab about my 'emotional moment' tonight" he said, air quotes included.

"Okay, it's a deal" the girl nodded as they started to walk again. 

The silence returned and this time it was Spike's turn to break it.

"Why'd you hate me?" he asked her, watching the stone he was kicking along the ground.

"I don't *hate* you exactly" she told him, almost feeling guilty for the way she'd treated him, especially since she'd seen him cry tonight.

"But you don't like me, from the minute you first met me I knew you didn't" he pointed out "Why?" he asked again and Buffy found herself unable to form a proper answer. Right at that moment there was nothing she didn't like about him. In fact back there when he'd had what he called his 'emotional moment' she could quite happily have reached up and...no Buffy, don't go there! She scolded herself, inwardly.

"Because, well, I don't know, I..." she rambled and Spike smirked at her.

"Inarticulacy come free with the Slayer strength too, luv?"

"That's why!" she exploded, flinging her arms in the air for emphasis, continuing to walk as Spike stopped.

"What?" he asked genuinely confused by her outburst and she turned back to face him.

"The sarcasm!" she said loudly before beginning to count off his more annoying points on her fingers "The comments, the smirk, the attitude, not to mention, the all over black, the staring, the fact that my sister thinks you're God's gift and you seem inclined to agree..."

"Woah, easy Slayer, I get it" he interrupted, trying to take in all that she'd just said. He really liked this girl and this was what she thought of him "Can't believe there's so much to hate about me" he sounded decidedly sulky about it as he walked straight past Buffy.

"I never said hate" she pointed out, starting to wonder if she'd gone too far with her little outburst "besides" she continued, falling into step with him again "I've only known you a day so my opinion doesn't count for much" she shrugged "...seems like longer than just a day though" she thought aloud, startling herself.

Spike looked at her strangely and the nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, for me too" he smiled slightly and Buffy found herself smiling back, glad to see him happier than he had been earlier.

"Well, maybe we knew each other in a past life or something" she suggested and Spike laughed.

"You believe in that stuff?"

"I dunno" Buffy shrugged her shoulders again, "I believe in vampires and demons and stuff so, who's to say people don't get reincarnated too. If I come back I don't want to be the Slayer next time" she admitted, starting to wonder why she was telling some strange guy she hardly knew all these thoughts she had.

"What would you rather be?" he was curious to know and Buffy's answer spilled out of her mouth before she'd even considered to implications.

"Ice skater" she announced, before suddenly realising what she'd done "I can't believe I just told you that" she looked away, blushing.

"Too late now, pet" Spike smiled "Besides, not a bad idea, bet you'd look good in a leotard"

She looked dangerously at him and he wondered if he'd gone too far. He didn't fancy being flipped again, although the landing position from last time hadn't been so bad...

"I don't think I should ask your opinion of what I should come back as" he said, quickly.

"Probably not a good idea" Buffy agreed, smiling widely, before suddenly realising their little 'getting to know you' conversation was about to end as they reached the back of their houses again.

"Well, looks like we're home" she sighed, looking up at her window.

"Yeah" Spike nodded "Buffy?"

"What?" she turned from looking at her house to looking directly at him.

"Y'know we were sharing secrets before? Can I share one more with you?" he asked her, looking uncomfortable.

"Depends" she said looking dubiously at him. 

"On what?" he wondered aloud.

"Am I gonna like it?" she checked and he smiled at her.

"I hope so, but you have to close your eyes"

Buffy laughed out loud.

"You're kidding right? I've seen that trick"

"Buffy" he sighed in annoyance "if I do anything you don't like you can use your Slayer powers and beat me to a pulp afterwards, okay, luv?" he declared, wondering what he was getting himself into. He had a fifty-fifty chance of getting his backside kicked very soon, but he thought it would be worth the risk.

"It's a deal" Buffy nodded, giving in and closing her eyes.

She felt Spike's body get closer to her and his hands gripped her waist as he lowered his head and covered her lips with his. For a moment, Buffy thought about pushing him off but it didn't take long for her to change her mind. Her arms wound around his neck pulling him closer as she responded to his kiss, wondering why on earth she was doing this, but thoroughly enjoying it anyway.

TBC


	7. Shocking

A/N : Just want to thank everyone who left a review on chapter six - it's always nice to know that what you write is enjoyed by the readers. I hope you all continue to enjoy this story (and continue with the nice reviews too ;-) )

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 7

"Oh bloody buggering hell!" Spike cursed as he woke up and saw his clock telling him if he was going to be seriously late for school if he didn't move it. He threw on his clothes, hurriedly did something with his hair, grabbed his bag and ran down to the kitchen where his Mum was making tea and toast.

"William, I need to talk to you..." she started as her son grabbed a slice of toast from the plate and kept moving.

"Later Mum, I'm gonna be late for school" he called as he breezed out again.

"But I...late for school?" Jessica echoed her son's words, wondering why on earth it would bother him if he was late for school? Did he not hate the place? Something very strange was going on, and it seemed as though she would have to wait til tonight to find out what it was and also to tell Spike the secret she was dreading revealing. And then of course there was Rupert, she was going to have to talk to him too.

* * * * * 

Buffy and Willow walked together, outside of Sunnydale High School, holding their books to their chests. Buffy had felt uncomfortable about having to walk to school with Spike and she hadn't promised she would or anything so she had left ten minutes early and walked by herself. She had met Willow by the school gates.

"So, did you manage to get to patrolling last night?" the red-head asked and Buffy started to look uncomfortable.

"Er, yeah, I did" she smiled nervously.

"Anything interesting happen?" her friend asked, wondering why the Slayer was acting so weird all of a sudden.

"Er, no, not really. Dusted a couple of vamps, met Spike, he knows about the Slayer, knows it's me, and then he totally kissed me - no big" she said all in the same flat tone. Willow abruptly stopped walking, and Buffy stopped two steps ahead, turning back to see her friends reaction.

"No big?" the young witch said incredulously "Sounds like major 'big' to me!"

Buffy almost laughed at her friends wide eyes and open mouth. They started to walk again as Willow rambled.

"I can't believe you kissed him! I thought you hated him! And you've only known him a day! And, no offence, but you were kind of, well, anti-social with him yesterday..."

"Woah" Buffy put up a hand to silence her friend "okay, first of all he kissed me, I did not kiss him" she said forcefully, before admending with "well, maybe I did a little bit but he started it, and second..." all the major points of her argument flew out of her head as she thought of that kiss "oh, I don't know he's just, when he wants to be he can be really...sweet"

"Sweet?" Willow echoed with a little laugh for good measure "Of course, cos I mean he looks really sweet" she smiled as she tapped Buffy's shoulder and pointed at the figure coming towards them.

Clad in his usual black outfit, leather jacket and boots included, Spike strode towards the two girls, his bleached spikes of hair maybe not as neat as they were the day before.

"Morning ladies" he grinned at Willow and then slightly nervously at Buffy.

"Hey Spike" Willow smiled back as Buffy ducked her head and said a quiet 'hi'.

There was an awkward silence as the red-head glanced between the two.

"I have to go and..." she trailed off, walking away, and Buffy inwardly promised to throttle her later.

"Buffy we need to talk..." Spike started only to be interrupted by an annoying brunette.

"Hey Buffster" Xander called as he came over to the two, before giving a curt nod to Spike and angering him by addessing him as William.

"I told you, it's Spike" he seethed "and d'ya mind Harris I'm trying to have a conversation with the lady"

"Oh, you mean another argument?" the young man grinned and Buffy watched uncomfortably as the two guys eyed each other.

"No, a conversation" Spike tried to keep his cool "so d'ya think you could leave us alone for two seconds?"

"You seriously telling me Buffy wants to be alone with you?" Xander laughed aloud and Spike grabbed him by the shirt, resisting the temptation to kick him into next century. He yanked the boy forward and dropped his voice to a whisper near Xander's ear.

"One more word out of you and I'm gonna sing 'Buffy's a vampire slayer' at the top of my voice whilst playing the accompaniment on your thick skull, understand?"

Spike pushed him away and Xander coughed nervously before pointing in the direction Willow had gone before.

"I'll be over here..."

"Good choice" Spike nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

Buffy turned to glance at Xander and then eyed Spike suspiciously.

"What did you say to him?" she asked.

"Nothing much, pet" the bleach blond shrugged, "Now about last night..."

"Which part of last night?" Buffy shook her head slightly, like she didn't understand "The Bronze? My slaying? Your tears?"

"Hey, keep your voice down luv" Spike reprimanded on the word 'tears' "our little secrets, remember?"

Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Spike, whatever it is you want to say, spit it out"

"We kissed, Buffy" he said quietly and she tried to hide the colour that rushed into her cheeks. Buffy remembered only too well the kissing that they had done and there was no denying she had enjoyed herself but a large part of her felt it was wrong. She had only known this guy for a day, what did that say about her character? Also, how did she know she could trust him? Did she even really like him?

"I'm aware of that, I was there at the time" she said calmly, as it were nothing.

"So..." Spike prompted, hoping she would say something more. He liked this girl, a lot, she had to know that after what had happened between them and he had assumed she liked him too but now.

"So, what?" Buffy asked innocently, knowing he wanted her to say she liked him, that she wanted to date him,or something, but she wasn't even sure of that herself so how was she supposed to tell him?!

"You are unbelievable!" Spike exploded when he realised what was going on. She was just stringing him along to get her kicks, wasn't she?

"Thank you" Buffy frowned, not sure where the compliment had come from. Actually perhaps he hadn't meant it in the nice way...

"No, seriously, you are the most annoying bitch I have ever had the misfortune to meet!" he yelled, waving his arms for emphasis, before turning and stalking away from her.

"What?" Buffy looked confused and hurt, but he was walking away too fast and with his back to her, he didn't even notice "Spike, hey I..."

It was too late, he was out of ear shot, he was gone.

* * * * * 

"I'm an idiot!" Buffy exclaimed, slumping into a chair in the back room of the library. She threw her bag down on the table in front of her and threw her arms over her head before flopping forward onto the table. Giles watched the performance with a slightly amused expression. 

"Problem of some kind Buffy?" he asked her, closing the book in his hands.

"No" she said raising her head "well yes, but it's not Slayer stuff" she amended "well, it kind of is, I guess..." she changed her mind again before trailing off completely.

"How about you start from the beginning" Giles suggested putting his book down on the table and leaning on the back of the nearest chair.

"Well, I..." Buffy started but she was interrupted by Xander bursting into the room.

"Hey Giles, my man, we've got a problem"

"More than one apparently" the Watcher informed him, taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

"Buffy, good thing you're here too" he pointed at her and spoke seriously "Spike knows you're the Slayer"

"I know" she shrugged, putting her head back down on the table.

"Please tell me you didn't tell him" Xander felt sick, he did not like this guy, he did not trust this guy and all of a sudden he knew everything!

"I didn't, not really" Buffy quickly explained "he saw me, slaying, and he already knew what a Slayer was"

"But how is that possible...?" Giles wondered aloud, but there was yet another interruption as a voice called from the main part of the library.

"Hello?"

"Oh, who on earth is that?" the librarian/watcher sounded annoyed at the constant interruption and he hurried through to the main room.

"Can I help you?" he asked and the woman in front of him turned to face him. After all these years it was still clear to him who she was, his first and only love.

"Jessica?"

"Hello Rupert" Buffy's new next door neighbour smiled nervously and Giles dropped to the floor in a dead faint.

* * * * * 

A/N : Just a quick note about my other fics...

Anyone reading 'Always Remember - I Love You' I should have the third chapter ready to post tomorrow. 

Also I want to thank everyone who submitted reviews on my one shot fic 'Of Slays & Lays' and my poem 'I Hate...' - thank you all so much.


	8. Secrets Revealed 1

A/N : Finally got this chapter done. I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter - you are wonderful people and it's you that makes me want to write so much. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

Buffy and Xander came out from the back room at the sound of a loud thump. They soon discovered that thump was the result of Giles hitting the floor, completely passed out. Next to him, the teens found Buffy's next door neighbour.

"Jessica, hi" the girl greeted her as Xander tried to bring the librarian back to land of the living.

"Hello Buffy, how are you?" the woman smiled nervously, as Giles finally opened his eyes and Xander spoke to him as he helped him into a nearby chair.

"I'm fine" Buffy nodded "Are you looking for Spike?"

"No, I'm here to see Rupert" Jessica told her as both women got their feet again.

"Spike?" Giles echoed, holding his head, Xander stood by him looking equal parts confused and forgotten.

"Yeah, Spike who you met yesterday, he's Jessica's son" Buffy turned to her Watcher and explained.

"Oh, I see" he nodded slightly, his head beginning to clear and his eyes locked on the older woman before him "Buffy, Xander I need to speak to with Jessica alone, do you think you could come back later" he asked them.

"Sure" Buffy answered with a dubious glance at the two adults. She started to walk out of the library, grabbing Xander's arm along the way, forcing him to go with her.

"What's going on?" he asked as they exited the library and Buffy shut the door behind them.

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

"Well, Spike knows about Slayers and his Mom knows Giles who is the Watcher" Xander pointed out "What is it with your new neighbours?"

Buffy shook her head, as they walked along the near empty corridor. She looked thoughtful and then she gasped.

"Oh God"

"What?" the brunette beside her looked a little scared.

"Spike's Dad was British" Buffy began to explain "and he thought the book he found about Slayers and vamps and everything belonged to his father. He never met the guy because the man never knew Jessica was pregnant, he left the country"

"So?" Xander was confused, as usual, and it infuriated his friend.

"Don't you see?!" she said, too loudly "Jessica knows Giles and came here to see him! Giles is Spike's father!"

"What did you say?" said a voice behind Buffy and she swung round to see the person she'd dreaded it was.

"Spike!" she exclaimed, desperate to change the subject she continued "Oh, I wanted to talk to you about earlier, look I'm sorry I was so off about that kiss..." which was true even if it was a cover. She did feel bad about how she'd behaved this morning.

"You two kissed?!" the brunette exclaimed.

"Shut up Xander!" Buffy and Spike told him together.

"I asked you what you just said" the bleach blond demanded from the girl, she glanced away and then looked back with fake wide-eyed innocence.

"About what?"

"Buffy don't play games with me!" his tone was cold and deadly "Did you just say that Giles was my father?"

"I don't know if it's true, I'm just guessing, but...yeah, that is what I said" she conceded.

For a moment there was silence in the halls of Sunnydale High. Buffy wasn't sure whether speaking would be a good idea right now and Xander was far too shocked by the revelations that, one - Giles had a son and that was Spike, and two - Buffy and Spike had kissed!

As for Spike himself, he was now leaning back against the wall and from his expression Buffy guessed he was somewhere between confusion, anger and shock. He was either going to cry or explode and the girl was actually afraid to go near him to find out. She'd faced demons and vamps, but real human people with their human emotional problems, well, they could be just as volatile and dangerous.

After about two minutes, although it seemed longer, Buffy took a chance and stepped toward Spike, his eyes fixed on the ground.

"Spike, are you okay?" she asked, nervously, placing a hand on his leather jacket covered shoulder.

He flinched and shrugged her away, turning to lean his side against the wall and facing his back to her. Inside of his head, thoughts were spinning. He'd met his father and he hadn't known it. His mother had moved them to Sunnydale - did she know her father was here? Why had he left her all those years ago? Would he want to be part of their lives now? Did they want him in their lives? The shock and other emotions brought tears to his eyes that he was determined not to release in front of Buffy and especially not in front of that idiot Xander.

The bell sounded and students began to come into the halls.

"Buffy, we've got to get to class" Xander told her.

"You go" she said turning to her brunette friend, "I'll be there soon"

Xander knew not to argue and with a nod of his head he left. As Buffy turned back she realised Spike was gone.

"Jessica, it's such a shock to see you after all this time" Giles shook his head as he sat down and gestured for his old girlfriend to do the same.

"I just moved to Sunnydale with my son, William" she told him, carefully working up to the point where she would 'drop the bomb' and tell him William was also his son.

"Oh yes, I've met him" the librarian nodded now "So you're married?" he guessed.

"No, I'm not" the woman told him "Are you?" she was worried now, if this man had a wife and family of his own now he would not necessarily want to know his son or her.

"Good lord, no" Giles laughed at the idea, and Jessica let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. The room plunged into silence as they both glanced around the room to avoid looking at each other. Suddenly, Giles spoke. 

"Jessica I want to tell you I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly al those years ago. It had to do with my being the Watcher, you remember me telling you about that?"

"Of course, in fact I know more than simply what you told me" she admitted and he looked at her with a puzzled expression, so she explained "when you left, you left a few things behind and this book was one of them" she said, producing a red leather bound volume from her shoulder bag.

"Oh my goodness" Giles took the book from her hands and flicked through the pages "You kept it all this time?"

"For a long time I thought...I hoped" she amended "maybe you would come back"

Her voice was suddenly very small and she saw guilt play over Giles's face as she glanced up at him.

"I wanted to, heaven knows Jessica, I did want to, but my duties as a Watcher, I had to think of them first" he tried to explain, "I was sent here to train the young Slayer and after that I became too scared to think what you would say if I ever tried to find you" he admitted, standing up from his seat and pacing a little as he cleaned his glasses "but there have never been any other women in my life" he told her "except for Buffy and she is really much more of a daughter to me..."

"Buffy?" Jessica interrupted "Why would she...?" she started before realising Giles's attachment to her new next door neighbour, "The Slayer?"

"Yes, indeed, Buffy Summers is the Slayer" he told her, knowing he could trust her with such secret information, even after all these years.

"Do these strange coincidences often occur in Sunnydale?" the woman asked with a smile.

"A great many strange coincidences occur in Sunnydale I assure you" he smiled back at her and wondered why she looked so nervous and then looked away from him completely.

"I have one more thing to say that you might find strange" she began "or at least surprising..."

Jessica was interrupted by the library doors swinging open and a rather angry looking boy striding in, straight toward them.

"William?" Jessica stood up and saw her son enter the room. Without a word Spike headed straight for an unsuspecting Giles, punching him in the face and almost knocking him over completely.

"William Hart what on earth do you think you're doing?!" Jessica yelled, but the boy took no notice.

"That's for leaving my Mum when she needed you" he shouted, before administering a second blow "and that's for not being there when *I* needed you"

Before anyone could say or do anything, Spike turned on his heel and left the room just as swiftly as he had entered it, leaving his mother to tend to the injured librarian.

Buffy had gone full circle around the school grounds hunting for Spike when finally she spotted him as he headed from the library to a bench outside.

As she came through the doors and out into the sun she saw him, elbows resting on his knees, staring off somewhere. 'He looks so alone' Buffy thought as she approached him carefully.

"Spike?" she said as she reached his side "Where did you go?"

"I hit him" he told her, simply, without looking at her "and I'm not even sure why..." 

"You hit Giles?!" Buffy interrupted, shocked and somewhat annoyed, she was ready to give this boy a piece of her mind until he glanced up at her and she saw tears streaming down his face. 

"Spike..." she said in a softer tone, feeling desperately sorry for him all of a sudden. She really didn't know what to say to him. It had to be a shock and very confusing to find your father after all this time of not knowing.

"I'm sorry, I am, I just..." he tried to explain but the lump in his throat took his voice away. Not knowing what else to do, Buffy sat beside him and put her arm around him, nervously since she wasn't sure how he would react. She was surprised but also relieved when he allowed himself to go into her embrace. Not knowing what to say she just held him close and comforted him as he cried. He wasn't as big and tough as he pretended to be, and she knew what that was like, because despite being the Slayer, sometimes she just wanted to be held while she cried too. No-one did that for her, but at least she could be content with the fact that she could do it for someone else.

__

To Be Continued...


	9. Secrets Revealed 2

A/N : Finally got around to updating this, I've been meaning to post this chapter for a couple of days! 

Thanks for the reviews so far. Reviews are very much appreciated (--subtle hint!)

Here's the next chapter...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 9

"Oh my God, Rupert I'm so sorry" Jessica was almost in tears as she helped her ex-boyfriend into a nearby chair. Blood trickled from his nose where Spike had placed two forceful punches, which he had proclaimed to be one for his mother and one for himself. Beside the pain that Giles felt through his whole head, the man was also very confused.

"I'm quite alright" he lied, taking a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away the blood, "I think, perhaps you might have an explanation for what just happened?"

Jessica sat down in her seat beside him again as he tilted his head and attempted to stem the blood flow as well as block out the searing pain.

Jessica decided just to say what she came to say. As tears of regret and fear trickled down her cheeks she forced out the important words.

"William is your son"

Giles looked over at her, looked her right in the eyes and just stared.

"My son?" he choked out, in disbelief and shock, the pain in his face almost completely forgotten now.

Jessica could only nod in response.

"My son" the librarian repeated, out loud and in his head, over and over, trying to make sense of it. He had a son, he and Jessica had a son called William, known as Spike, and who apparently had an impressive right hook.

Jessica managed to find her voice and gave a little more explanation.

"I didn't know about him until after you'd gone, and I tried to find you but people said you'd left the country and I didn't know what to do" she cried, tears of guilt for not trying harder to find him, of relief at finally being able to explain, and of fear of what his reaction might be.

Giles shook his head as if to clear the fog that seemed to fill it.

"Er, but, I don't understand..." he began, "I mean we, er...it only happened...once"

Jessica smiled in spite of her tears. She knew what he meant and was afraid to say.

"Once is all it takes" she said simply, "William is living proof of that"

Giles nodded, of course she was right, but he was simply astounded by it all.

"I never knew..." he trailed off, wondering how different his life might have been if only he had have known, if he'd have stayed in England with the love of his life, for that was what Jessica Hart was, always. She had been the first and only girl he'd loved, and then regrettably lost. But here she was, in front of him now and telling him they had a son together. Speaking if whom...

"William, he, erm, he seemed rather upset" 

"He really had no reason to hit you like that" Jessica said quickly, "I've told him so many time, explained that you had no idea. I know you would never have left if you'd have known"

"Oh no, indeed, of course not" Giles agreed, "Jessica, I never wanted to leave anyway, you do know that, I had no idea how long I was to be away and there was no way I could have brought you with me even if I'd known I couldn't return"

"It's okay" Jessica told him, "I understand" it sounded shocking even to her own ears as she said it, but it was true. She did understand, as crazy as the whole situation was and as much hurt and anguish as she had been through she didn't blame her dear Rupert at all, she loved him too much - then and now.

Outside...

It was a good five minutes before Spike lifted his head from Buffy's shoulder and she released him from her embrace. He couldn't look her in the eye, he felt like such and idiot. He pretended to be big and tough but he was a scared little boy inside. Finding out that Giles was his father, it had been too much, resulting first in anger and mindless violence and then later in tears from the guilt and shock.

"You wanna talk about it?" Buffy asked him gently as he sniffed and looked down at the ground again.

"What's to talk about?" he shrugged, and Buffy knew this was going to be harder than she thought. She wanted to help him but it was clear he wasn't going to let her.

"Well" she said slowly, "you're upset, it might help to talk about how you feel"

Spike let out a humourless chuckle.

"I don't do the touchy-feely stuff"

"You did last night" she reminded him.

He swung his head round and looked straight at her, the memories of the night before very clear suddenly. The secrets they'd shared, and the kissing he'd initiated, but then there was this morning and she'd been so off with him.

"Why'd you care about me all of a sudden?" he asked eyeing her carefully "This morning you didn't want to know" he said bitterly, looking away again.

"Spike..." she started, but to be honest she didn't know what had changed. She didn't know why she'd done and said what she had that morning. The night before had been great, just talking and sharing and of course the kissing had been incredible but afterwards she'd gotten all worried and panicky about a possible relationship and the complications that could bring.

Her time with Angel had been wonderful but it had all gone wrong. There was the advantage with Spike that he was human, but he wasn't exactly your average guy. He was...different, that was the only word Buffy could think of. Angel had been different, vampire-type different, and that had led to too many problems. Spike was at least only British-type different and Goth kind of different, that was an improvement.

So deep in thought was the Slayer that she didn't notice Spike stand up and start to walk away. His question had gone unanswered and he had wrongly assumed that she didn't care about him at all. 

"Spike!" she called him back as soon as she noticed he was leaving, but he didn't listen.

"Leave me alone Slayer" he called over his shoulder, but she wouldn't let him be alone.

"No" she called, hurrying along behind him. She knew he couldn't get far, the school gates would be locked, "Spike, please, just listen for a minute"

"To what?" he asked not looking at her, before continuing to speak without giving her a chance to answer, "Y'know I'm starting to wish I'd never come to this place. Sunnydale" he scoffed, "they should rename it Sunny-Hell! Two days here and already my life has been turned upside down!"

Buffy really wasn't sure what to say, but she couldn't seem to make herself walk away and leave this guy alone. She wanted to help him, needed to, just wanted to do something to ease the pain he clearly felt.

"I never asked for a father" Spike continued his 'speech' still with an angry tone but with an edge of sadness too, "Now I've found him I don't know what to do about it and it's all this stupid towns fault! Two days and I've managed to meet my father and beat the crap out of him as well as meet a Slayer and fall for her and all before we've even finished unpacking!"

"Woah" Buffy stopped walking and her mouth dropped wide open, "back up a second"

Spike also stopped walking just a couple of steps ahead of the girl and inwardly cursed as soon as he realised what he'd said and to whom he'd said it.

"You wanna repeat what you just said?" Buffy asked his back, since he had yet to turn around.

"Not especially no" he threw over his shoulder, continuing walking away, but there was no way the young Slayer was going to let that happen. He had just said he'd fallen for her, hadn't he? She could hardly believe that was true. They'd only known each other for two days! But she had to care for him too, against her better judgement or why else would she care so much that he might like her?

Spike cursed loud and long when he reached the school gates and found them locked as Buffy knew they would be. He slammed his arms into the metal railings which jangled in protest at his force.

"Bloody buggering hell-hole of a place" he cursed, "Buggering up my life good and proper" He knew he needed to calm down and seeing as no-one was around, he felt in his pocket for his cigarettes. Buffy reached his side as he tried to light one but the hand that held the lighter shook with frustration making it impossible.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Buffy demanded to know.

"Spare me the 'smoking is fatal' speech, pet" Spike protested "now is not a good time!"

"Oh screw the smoking" Buffy was getting increasingly annoyed at this guys ridiculous attitude. He seemed somewhat shocked by her outburst, but she didn't notice and continued anyway.

"First of all, I know it was a shock finding out who your father was but you're lucky you found out you had such a nice guy for a Dad, God knows I wish my Dad was as decent as Giles! Secondly, house moving is stressful I understand that but not the huge deal you're making it out to be and thirdly..." here she trailed off for a second before deciding she really did have to ask, "what the hell did you mean when you said you fell for me?!"

The entire speech sounded loud and annoyed and all in the same tone, but the last question scared her to death. Could she deal with this now? Did she want Spike to more than just like her or feel attracted to her but to, maybe, love her? It was crazy after just two days but yes, she did want him to feel that way, she honestly did.

"Well?" she asked, hands on her hips and a fierce expression on her face, more through expertly-concealed fear than anger, but he didn't know that "Are you gonna answer me?"

As Spike opened his mouth to speak, his unlit cigarette fell from his mouth, unnoticed. He really couldn't think of anything to say to her, all he could think was how stunning she was when she was angry, and he knew if he told her that he'd soon learn, what Slayer strength could do, so he closed his mouth again and just stared at her for a second.

Buffy watched and waited for what felt like an eternity as Spike's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish but no sound came out. Suddenly, without warning, he was right in front of her, not two or three steps away but right in her face and then his lips were on hers and his hands were on her waist and it was last night all over again...and Buffy realised she didn't mind at all. 

To Be Continued...


	10. Feeling Guilty

A/N : Firstly, thanx to everyone for the wonderful reviews - it's always great to know that my writing is appreciated. Many reviews (of the nice kind) makes a happy author and happy authors do tend to write more often [subtle hint]. Oh, to Sport - no I've never read the Regeneration books, it's just a coincidence about the character name. 

I'm trying to alternate my updates of this and 'Always Remember - I Love You' just in case anyone was wondering about that. Anyway, here's the next chapter of this one...enjoy!

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10

"Miss Summers! Mr Hart!" a loud and angry voice boomed across the school grounds and Buffy and Spike were jolted out of there passion by it. The voice belonged to the school Principal, Mr Flutie, and he was far from amused to find two of his students who should have been in class actually just inside school parameters successfully re-enacting, as far as he could see, the meeting of two sink plungers.

Buffy went a bright shade of pink as she moved as far away from Spike as she could. Principal Flutie was hardly her biggest fan anyway and she knew he was going to be really mad about this. Spike just seemed annoyed about the interruption the Principal had caused, adding to the frustration he was already feeling about his whole situation in Sunny-hell!

"I believe you two have classes you should be in?" the angry man asked, and Buffy shuffled nervously.

"Yes, sir" she answered while Spike just looked the other way and made no response.

"Then I might suggest you get there...NOW, before my patience runs out and I put you both in detention!" the Principals voice rose in volume throughout the sentence and Buffy immediately obeyed, determined not to land herself in any more trouble with either her school teachers or her mother.

Spike followed her as she walked towards the school building and she was sure she heard him mutter 'wanker' under his breath, referring of course to the oblivious man behind them.

Buffy couldn't concentrate in class. History lost all it's appeal as her mind whirled round with scary thoughts. A girl who spends her spare time battling demons and vampires without a sliver of fear, was now petrified because of what she was feeling. Life had been complicated enough before but now, it was getting worse every minute. Her best friend left, her new neighbours arrived, she hated him, then she liked him, he turned out to be Giles's son and now...Buffy really wasn't sure what was supposed to happen now. Things were simple for everyone else, why couldn't she have a normal life!

Well, maybe things weren't so simple for Giles. Having his ex-girlfriend and a son turn up out of nowhere had to be a shock...actually the thought of Giles ever having had a girlfriend and doing what is required to make a child gave Buffy the heebie-jeebies, but that wasn't the point. His life had just got about ten times more complicated too.

But Willow and Xander, their lives were simple, why couldn't Buffy have an easy life like them? Well, their lives are fairly simple, except for the helping with the slayage and the fact Willow is learning control her witch powers and Xander has to cope with being the only normal human amongst them, and...maybe their lives aren't so simple either.

Buffy was starting to realise perhaps it wasn't just her with the complex life after all. Maybe everyone's life was complex when you looked at it carefully. Maybe Spike was right, maybe it was Sunnydale that screwed up everyone's lives. Maybe that's why, maybe in other places, lives are simpler...but then she didn't know everybody in Sunnydale, maybe it was just her friends and family that had the problems maybe the cause of all the trouble was...her.

"Oh my God" Buffy exclaimed aloud, at her sudden realisation, causing all the students in the class, plus the teacher, to turn and stare.

"Something you'd like to share with the class Miss Summers?" the teacher asked and Buffy remembered where she was.

"No, no, no" she stuttered, "I was just, er, no" she said quickly, looking down at her books and hoping everyone would stop staring.

"Late to class and now this, Miss Summers, it really isn't good enough" she was told.

"I'm sorry" she said, as innocently as she could and after a long stare the teacher turned away and continued his lesson. Buffy let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding as she zoned out again and resumed her thoughts.

'Giles would never have left England if I wasn't the Slayer' she mused, 'he wouldn't have left Jessica and Spike would have had a proper father. Also, Willow wouldn't be a witch and Xander wouldn't feel so inadequate...oh my God, everyone would be better off without me! This is all my fault!'

"You're right you know" a voice said behind her and she turned to see Spike behind her. The classroom was empty, save her and him.

"What?" she didn't understand what was happening.

"It is all your fault, my life is a wreck because of you" the bleached blond before her said, leaning over her.

"And mine" said a second voice as Willow appeared to her left and Xander to her right.

"It's all your fault that our lives are ruined" the brunette taunted as they all leaned over her in her seat.

"No, no, no" she repeated trying to get away but finding she was stuck to the chair.

"Buffy" she heard the kindly voice of her Watcher and turning back she saw Giles and Jessica in front of her.

"It's not my fault, Giles, help me" she begged as tears streamed down her face.

"It is your fault, Buffy" the man told her, "All your fault"

"No" she cried, burying her face into the desk and putting her arms over her head, she couldn't bear to see them there, to hear them taunt her. She didn't mean to cause problems for anyone.

"Buffy" she heard one voice clearer than all the others, it was Spike, but she didn't want to look at him, she couldn't bear to.

"Buffy, luv, come on" he called again and with a jolt she turned to him, screaming; "No!" 

She was surprised to find that she was alone in the room, save for Spike and that he was looking at her with a worried expression.

"You okay, pet?" he asked her and she blinked hard.

"I...I think I was dreaming..."

"That you were, pet" Spike nodded, crouching down beside her seat, "Must have been some sort of nightmare you were screaming like a banshee when I came in and the more I tried to wake you up the louder you got"

"I..I'm sorry" she stuttered, both confused and embarrassed, noticing that although the images she saw and words she'd heard had been a dream her tears were very real.

"You wanna tell me about it?" he asked, moving to sit in the seat beside her.

"Er, ...I don't know" she said, still disorientated, "Where is everyone?"

"Class ended ten minutes ago" Spike told her, "teacher was gonna give you a right tellin' off for dropping off while she was talkin'"

"Why didn't she then?" she wondered aloud.

"Told her you were ill, didn't I?" he explained, "Said you weren't feeling well and that I'd been told to come and get you cos your Mum was here to take you home"

"My Mom?" Buffy wiped her face with the back of her hand and looked worried and confused.

"It was a lie, Buffy" he smiled, "Don't look so panicked. Just told a bit of a fib to save your skin is all"

The Slayer was silent thinking about what had happened. Her dream was still haunting her in the back of her mind and now Spike was here and he wasn't helping her think particularly clearly, what with his lying and her own guilt and also the feelings she was having for him.

"Buffy luv, I'm not so sure I was completely lying now, are you feeling alright?" Spike looked really concerned about her and that only made things worse.

"I'm fine" she lied, "I should go" she pulled herself up from her seat, grabbed her books and made for the door.

"Buffy?!" Spike called behind her. He really wanted to talk to her, about a lot of things, the main thing being the two bouts of kissing they'd shared in the short time they'd known each other, but more than that he also needed to talk to someone about his other feelings. What he felt about his parents, things like that, he really had no-one else in Sunnydale who he could call a friend, only Buffy. She clearly didn't want to talk to him right now though and that dream she'd had, the way she'd acted afterwards, it had really scared him. He really liked the Slayer, and he couldn't understand why he felt so close to her, why he thought maybe...did he love her? That he wasn't sure of, but he cared for her a lot and he'd never felt like that about anyone. His Mum meant the world to him, but that was different, this was...he didn't know what it was, but he wasn't going to find out sitting in an empty classroom all day.

"Slayer's not in the mood for a chat right now" he said to himself as he stood up again, "Maybe I should see what's happening with the parents"


	11. Apologies

A/N : Thanx to fictionfreak and basketball-slayer for the latest reviews. Here's the next chapter.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 11

"Knock Knock" Spike's somewhat nervous voice accompanied his fist on the wood of the library door as he opened it.

"William Hart you are in serious trouble..." his mother stood up from her seat immediately, a distinctly annoyed expression on her face and tone in her voice.

"Mum, please, give us a chance to apologise at least..." he dared to interrupt and her look softened a little on the word 'apologise'. She nodded for him to continue. Spike turned to Giles with a sigh as he noticed, although the older mans nose was no longer bloody, it was bruised.

"I had no right hittin' you like that" he said coming toward him slowly, "I'm sorry"

"Apology accepted, William" Giles nodded in response as Jessica sat down again and Spike came to stand by the table.

"It's Spike, remember?" said the young man, slightly aggravated by the use of his given name "Only Mum here calls me Will" he gestured to the woman with his head "to everyone else, including you Giles, I'm Spike"

"But Will, Rupert is your father" Jessica told him, pointlessly.

"Only cos biology says so" he countered "I don't even know him" he mumbled.

"Will..., er, Spike is right, Jessica" Giles stumbled on his words, glancing between his new-found son and ex-girlfriend "I have no right to call him my son"

"S'what I am though innit?" Spike shrugged, "Can't change it"

"No, indeed" Giles replied, softly. It was a very strange situation the three were in and an uncomfortable silence descended on the room, until Jessica finally found her voice.

"Erm, I think we all need to talk about this, together, but now might not be the best time"

"I do have work to do, yes" Giles admitted "and then I have a training session with Buffy later..."

"After that" Jessica suggested "would you like to come to our house and we can talk?"

"Oh, of course, yes" Giles agreed and Jessica smiled slightly, turning to her son.

"Is that okay with you, Will?"

"S'pose so" he shrugged, if he was honest he wasn't sure what he wanted to happen with his parents, all that was on his mind was what would happen next with himself and Buffy.

"Okay, I'll er, cook us some dinner" he heard his mother continue "oh but I'll have to pick you up from here first..."

"I could er give you a lift if you care to wait" Giles piped up, much to the others surprise. Spike considered for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, okay" he said, before adding quietly "I need to talk to Buffy anyway"

Despite the lowering of his voice, his mother still heard every word he said.

"Something important, honey?" she asked, tilting her head. She had her suspicions that there might be a few developing feelings between those two, more than just friendship, she had no idea of course that she was so right.

"Er...yeah, actually" Spike wasn't sure whether he wanted to say this in front of his mother and new-found father or not, but if he wanted to make sense of this girl he was going to need help. Who better to help him than the man Buffy looked up to so much - her Watcher.

"You know her better than I do Giles, maybe you can figure it out. Is she always so...I dunno, does she change her mind a lot, her opinions...also she fell asleep in class today and had some sort of nightmare and when I asked her about it she ran off" he explained, "I just can't make any sense of her.

"What had happened before that?" Giles asked, going straight into Watcher mode, cleaning his glasses and pacing the room. But Spike had a problem, he couldn't tell the absolute truth, that truth being that he and Buffy had been kissing after a sort discussion/argument about his confusion about his parents and possible love for the Slayer.

"We talked is all" he shrugged again "about...stuff" he said, non-commitally.

"Well, the dream may be significant" his father told him "she does occasionally have prophetic dreams, it's all to do with being the Slayer"

"Maybe that's all it was then..." Spike nodded wanting to get out of this uncomfortable conversation he'd started as soon as possible "I should get to class. See ya later Mum" he smiled, placing a kiss on her cheek, before turning back to Giles "and I'll see you after last class"

"Yes, you will" the Watcher smiled at his new found son as he left the room.

"I should be going too" Jessica sighed, standing up. She shifted a little and uncomfortably wondered what to do next. She took a step forward as did the man before her and they caught each either in a an awkward hug. It felt so familiar and comfortable once they were there that neither really wanted to let go, but they knew they must "I'll see you tonight, Rupert" Jessica smiled as she left.

"Yes, see you then, Jessica" he called behind her, sinking down into his chair again, thinking about a time in his life when he thought he and Jessica would be together forever, before coming back to Earth and worrying about the dinner that night.

"Hey Buffster, you okay?" Xander caught up to Buffy at lunch, Willow at his side "We heard you went home, feeling sick or something"

"No, I'm fine" Buffy smiled fakely, not feeling even half as happy as she looked. She was confused, in every possible way and she couldn't see a way out of the mess she appeared to have got into. Unidentifiable feelings for Spike were causing her the biggest problems, that and a sudden overpowering sense of guilt about everyone's situation she felt she'd caused.

"Hey, what you said to Spike about the kissage" her male friend continued "you two didn't really..."

"Xander" she snapped in annoyance at the reminder of what she'd said and done as regards her new next door neighbour "Can we not talk about this now, please?"

"Sure" the brunette nodded and Willow finally spoke up.

"Buffy, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine" the blonde smiled, kindly, at her friend, since she really had no reason to be so off with Willow and she didn't want to worry her either. It was then she saw Spike, or rather his back, disappearing out of the cafeteria.

"Spike, we need to talk" she called as she hurried to catch up to him. She caught him just outside the doors.

"Oh so now she wants to talk" Spike said to no-one in particular before turning around to face her "Earlier you couldn't run away fast enough, pet"

"I'm sorry" the Slayer looked own at her feet, feeling awful.

"For what?" Spike asked, trying to get her to meet his eyes "The Little Miss Ice-queen routine first thing this morning? The kissing after that? The running away? What exactly am I getting an apology for?" he asked her, his voice demanding and slightly angry. It was now Buffy raised her head and Spike felt awful when he saw two tears roll down her cheeks.

"All of it" she choked out, angrily dragging the back of her hand across her face to remove her tears. She almost broke Spike's heart, she genuinely looked like she felt so bad.

"Oh come on Slayer" he sighed, putting an arm around her shoulders and squeezing her slightly "no more tears"

She smiled slightly and he encouraged her to walk with him down the corridor, leaving his arm just where it was.

"I'm sorry too" he told her "I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with or to understand, especially now...I don't even understand my life myself at the moment" he trailed off and Buffy looked up at him.

"Did you talk to Giles and your Mom?"

"Yeah...we're having a talk tonight, the whole family dinner bit...it's weird" he laughed lightly, "I dunno whether to be happy about it or not" 

"Giles is a nice guy" Buffy told him "he's been more like a father to me than my Dad ever was" she admitted, and it was true.

"Good job he's not your real father, pet" Spike laughed some more as they stopped by some lockers, his arm slipping from her shoulders as they both turned to lean sideways against the wall "It'd make us brother and sister"

"Would that be so bad?" the girl before him asked and Spike frowned, not understanding.

"I don't know what happened last night or this morning" Buffy shook her head for emphasis "but I think maybe it would be a good idea if we started again?" she mumbled most of it and Spike could barely hear what she was saying.

"What are you on about, Slayer?" he asked, clearly aggravated.

"I want us to be friends, Spike" she said as simply as she could but he still looked confused.

"We are, aren't we?"

"I hope so" Buffy said looking up at his again "cos I could use another friend" she waited and watched as the smile on his face faded, he finally understood her and she knew she'd hurt him but it was for the best, right?

"Oh now I get it, just friends, nothing more than that" he shook his head, pushing himself away from the wall and turning away from her.

"Yeah" she nodded as she spoke although he couldn't see her.

"Do I wanna know why?" he asked, his back still facing her.

"It's complicated" she told him, knowing that she couldn't explain all her reasons even if she wanted to "but I just don't think we should be more than friends, okay?"

There was silence as she waited for his response and she was about to tap his shoulder to regain his attention when he suddenly swung round, a smile that didn't reach his eyes, painted on his face.

"Okay" he nodded, just as the school bell rang "I've got to get to class, already missed one today and I've only been here two days!" he turned to walk away again, but called back over his shoulder to her "I'll see you after school, Buffy"

"No, I've got training tonight" she called after him.

"I know, with my D...with Giles" he corrected himself, "So I'll be there"

A/N2 : My next update will be 'Always Remember I Love You' then I'll come back to this one. Please review!


	12. Family

A/N : Big thanx to everyone who reviewed, it is much appreciated. Just to clarify, this story is AU. In this universe, Buffy is the Slayer, she has lived in Sunnydale her whole life and was best friends with her next door neighbour, Cordelia, who has now moved away. Her new next door neighbour is Spike, who is not a vampire but a human being. Giles is Spike's father. He moved from England to America on Watcher business (which did not necessarily involve Buffy) before Spike was born. Buffy dated Angel before but something went wrong and I don't think I ever specified what in this story. I hope that makes it all clear. If anyone has anymore questions about the story, feel free to ask in a review. Here's the next chapter.

(for disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 12 - Family

Buffy had spent all day trying to keep her mind off Spike, but it hadn't been easy. She knew she'd hurt him more than he would admit when she pulled the 'just friends' card on him, but giving her current emotional state, she figured it was for the best...wasn't it? She couldn't even looked forward to training, not that it was something glorious to look forward to anyway, but it was going to be so awkward having Spike there too.

Outside the library doors at the end of the day, she took a deep breath, painted on a fake smile and went inside.

"Hey Giles" 

"Buffy" her Watcher smile when he saw her "how are you?"

"Fine" she nodded, well that was a half-lie to start with "Ooh, your nose looks..." she started before realising she was not exactly displaying tact if she said 'awful' "...painful" she settled on eventually.

"Yes, well, not to worry" he waved away her concern and she wandered over to the table where he was, dropping her bag onto it.

"Must have been a shock I guess, finding out Spike was your son" Buffy thought about it, and it had been a shock to her. She couldn't begin to imagine how weird it felt to Giles.

"Yes, it was rather astonishing and seeing Jessica after so many years..." he trailed off as Buffy looked on expectantly, "but we're not here for that" he said, with a shake of his head "Your training is the most important thing..."

"Hey" Buffy interrupted "you're important too, and you know I think you'll be a great father" she smiled. She knew what she said was true, since Giles had really been the nearest thing to a father that she'd had since her real Dad left. She was pleased to see him smile back at her, happy but possibly embarrassed too.

"Thankyou very much, Buffy. That's very sweet" he said, quietly.

"Hey" a voice interrupted the Slayer and her Watchers little father-daughter-esque moment.

"Spike, hi" Buffy smiled despite the uncomfortable feelings she felt as soon as the bleach blond entered the room.

"Yes, hello, er, Spike" Giles stumbled on the strange name he had been asked to used, still wondering how this slightly odd looking young man was a son of his, but he had every faith in Jessica and he did believe what she told him. This was his son, as incredible and disturbing as that seemed...

"Don't mind me" Spike shrugged, dropping into a nearby seat "you two just carry on with your Watcher/Slayer stuff I'll just be a quiet observer"

"Very well" Giles nodded, turning his attention back to Buffy. He began to talk to her but the Slayer hardly heard a word, her mind and her eyes stuck on the new arrival in the room. She finally came back to reality and tried to put Spike out of her mind and her visual range as she warmed up and then practised her fighting with Giles.

As much fun as it would have been to show off in front of her Watchers son, show him just what she was capable of, how tough she was, it didn't work that way. Spike's presence in the room only caused her aim to be off and her skills to disappear. She felt ridiculous and the more she failed to execute the moves, the more she remembered he was watching her and the worse she got.

Eventually, Giles realised that no amount of practice was going to help his Slayer today. 'Perhaps it's because we have an audience' he thought, glancing at Spike who's eyes had been burning a hole in Buffy's back for the last hour and a half.

"I think that's enough for today" Giles decided, taking of his glasses and cleaning them "besides er Jessica is expecting myself and Spike for dinner soon"

Buffy had to admit to herself that she was glad it was over. She knew Spike had been watching her and she was sure Giles had noticed too. She just wanted to get away from those two right now, but fate was against her...

"We're going right by your house, I'll give you a ride too" Giles offered and Buffy knew she should accept, she had no feasible reason to refuse.

"Oh, thanks" she said with the best smile she could manage under the circumstances. She was relieved when Spike rode in the front of the car with his father, at least in the back on her own she was further away from the young man she wanted to avoid right now. Only trouble was she knew he could still see her by glancing in the rear view mirror, which he did at every opportunity.

The ride from the school to Revello Drive was awkwardly silent and Buffy breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the car was parked and she could get away.

"Thanks Giles" she smiled, genuinely, as she climbed out of the car, "I'll see you tomorrow and I hope everything goes okay tonight" she said as he walked towards the house next door, Spike in tow.

"Thankyou Buffy" her Watcher smiled.

"Bye Spike" the girl called as she reached her front door, he turned back to glance at her.

"See ya Buffy" he smiled over at her, just before he went through his own front door.

"Hey Mum" he called as he entered the house, Giles on his heels.

"Hello Will" his mother smiled as she came to greet them "Hi Rupert" she said glancing at the older man.

"Good afternoon, Jessica" he replied, shuffling nervously and Spike rolled his eyes, before belting up the stairs. It was part of his usual routine to go straight to his room, dump his bag and jacket, maybe have a sneaky cigarette out of the window, before going back down to tell his Mum about his day and get a snack. Then it was homework back in his room and down for dinner. It was quite clear that tonight was going to be different but he still went upstairs, figuring his recently re-united parents could use some time alone.

Spike hung his jacket over the back of the chair by his desk and dropped his school bag beside it. He flopped down on his bed with a sigh. It had been an interesting day, to say the least. It seemed incredible that all that had happened had taken place in just a single day. Before Sunnydale his life had been simple enough, it seemed hard to believe that just a week ago he hadn't even seen this place, and now it was home and a very mixed up home at that.

In those first two days he had acquired a father that he wasn't even sure existed before. He had made a few friends, not something Spike was really used to but he liked the red-head called Willow and as much as that Xander bloke drove him crazy, he figured he wouldn't be too bad to be around. 

Then there was Buffy. The Chosen One, the Slayer, the girl next door, his friend - she was all those things and infinitely more, because if he was honest with himself, she was the girl he'd fallen for. Hook, line and sinker, he was completely in love, drowning in feelings stronger than he'd ever felt before in his life.

Love at first sight, whirlwind romance, not really phrases ever thought he'd use but what else could he call it? From the moment he'd laid eyes on the girl, he knew Buffy Summers was special. Two days and he'd seen just how special, and it wasn't just her slaying abilities either. The girl could fight, but along with slaying demons and vamps, she'd slayed his heart, good and proper.

When they were in that corridor, when she'd said it would never happen that they were to be nothing more than friends, well she might as well have shoved one of those stakes through his heart, because surely that had to hurt less than her words had. He closed his eyes and forced back tears and tried to make himself forget those two kisses he'd shared with the girl who wanted to be no more than his mate.

How had he allowed himself to fall so hard and so fast? Spike was tough, not bothered by emotions and deep feelings, wasn't all that just for poofters? He was stronger than this, wasn't he?

"What has she done to me?" he whispered to himself, breathing deeply, and glancing over at the clock beside his bed. He'd left his parents alone for almost thirty minutes, surely that was long enough for now, besides he was hungry and he really hadn't meant to be upstairs or thinking about Buffy for this long.

Spike had more important things to think about than Buffy right now.

'What could be more important than Buffy?' a voice in his head asked him as he made for the bedroom door.

'Er, the fact that my father, a man I didn't even know really existed until today, is downstairs?' a second more sarcastic inner-voice countered.

"I'm going crazy!" Spike complained aloud as he came down the stairs. He glanced toward the living room, but no-one was there so he moved through the empty dining room and headed for the kitchen. The sight that greeted him was not exactly what he'd expected and he wasn't entirely sure whether he was happy about it or not.

Spike wasn't really sure what was considered respectable or even normal behaviour for parents so on seeing his mother backed up against the kitchen counter, pinned there by his father who was thoroughly kissing her, Spike was at a loss as to know whether running, screaming or laughing would be the best course of action.

He eventually decided on loudly clearing his throat and was somewhat relieved when the pair came up for oxygen and backed away from each other at lightening speed.

"Er, Will..." Jessica started, unsure of what her son's reaction might be to what he'd seen. His expression was unreadable and it worried her. Her plan for the evening had not been to end up kissing her ex-boyfriend / father of her child within the first few minutes of his visit but it seemed all the feelings that had once existed between the two was still there even after all these years. The flame had been quite thoroughly re-ignited between them.

Giles looked similarly worried and looked a if he would surely pass out as Spike stepped forward and picked up three knives from the counter top. He was mightily relieved when the young man turned to his mother with a slight smile.

"Shall I finish setting the table Mum?" Spike offered, picking up the forks and spoons too and gesturing back to the dining room.

"Oh, yes" Jessica sighed in sheer relief, "Thankyou, Will"

Spike smiled fully as he went back to the table and finished setting out the cutlery, etc. He had successfully shocked his father, he knew he had, and probably his mother too, but then they did deserve it after the shock they'd given him.

It seemed to Spike that Giles was a decent sort of bloke, Buffy thought so and his mother still seemed to like him very much. Also it hadn't been his fault that he hadn't been a proper father to his son, since neither knew the other existed. No, Spike would accept this man to be his father, try to get to know him better and maybe one day they'd be some sort of family, the three of them. Maybe if Spike concentrated enough on that, he could put Buffy out of his head somehow, well, perhaps that was just wishful thinking...

__

To Be Continued...

A/N 2 : Look out for the chapter 11 of my other story 'Always Remember - I Love You' - coming soon. However, I have recently got a new job which means more hours of work and less time for writing, so updates might be slower but I'll try to write as often as possible (and nice reviews will make me want to try and write more!)


	13. One Month Later

A/N : Hey guys! Thanx for the reviews on my last chapter. Here's the next one, I hope you like it!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 13 - One Month Later

One month. Everything that had happened had happened a whole month ago, in some ways it seemed way longer and in others it could have been just yesterday. Cordelia had moved away and Spike and Jessica had moved in. Giles had discovered he was Spike, or William's, father and over the past month the strange little family had got to know each other better. Spike still called his father Giles, feeling uncomfortable calling a man he hardly knew Dad, and despite Spike's mother calling him by a shortened version of his real name, Giles stuck to the boys nickname as his friends did.

Buffy had changed over the month. After Cordelia left she felt there was an empty space in her life but Spike had quickly filled it in the strangest way. In the first two days of knowing each other the pair had kissed twice and divulged secrets to each other that they hadn't even told their parents, but Buffy had decided they should not be more than just good friends, despite the fact she was very attracted to her new neighbour. 

A mixture of fear and worry and guilt had caused her decision. She'd been through so much with Angel she was afraid of a new relationship, and the people she got close to, Angel, Cordelia, her father, they had a habit of going away and she didn't want to risk losing Spike. Plus she'd felt so guilty about being the Slayer and making everyone's lives complicated, she didn't want to add further complications. She'd let her guilt go when she realised everything seemed to be better with Giles and Jessica and Spike, but there was no way she was going to hinder that now.

At school, Buffy, Spike, Willow and Xander hung around together, usually talking about meaningless teenage things or that special secret they shared about Buffy being the Slayer. They hung around the library, talking to Giles, and Spike and Xander heckled each other most of the time. Willow's witch powers got stronger, Xander's aim with a stake got even better, and Spike soon became a real member of the gang too. Sometimes he would patrol with Buffy, both of them sneaking out of their bedroom windows after dark. Joyce still did not know Buffy's secret and although Jessica did, Spike knew she would not approve of his helping the Slayer with her work, but he had to do it. 

It still hurt when Spike thought of his second day in Sunnydale, when Buffy told him they should never be more than friends. He hadn't understood then and he still didn't understand now, why she'd made the decision but he respected it and they became good and trusting friends, as he tried to bury his attraction to her. It was hard for him to control sometimes, the burning feelings he felt for her, but he restrained himself well, unaware that she had to force herself back sometimes too.

* * * * *

It was a Saturday, and two days until an important Maths exam for the gang at Sunnydale High. Spike had asked Buffy if she wanted to study with him, and since Jessica had plans to spend time with Giles, Buffy agreed and suggested Spike come over to her house to study.

Giles and Jessica saw a lot of each other, they were more or less dating, which seemed strange to Buffy since they already had a son together, but they had to get to know each other all over again, and both Spike and Buffy, as well as Joyce, Dawn, Willow and Xander, suspected the flame they'd had before was being re-kindled.

"Buffy, I think Spike is here!" Joyce called up the stairs to her daughter as she moved to answer the door, but Dawn got there first. She flung the door open with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey Spike"

"Hey there, Little Bit" he smiled back and she giggled at the nickname he had given her weeks ago. Spike had nicknames for everyone, she had noticed one day when he was at their house, talking about 'Red' and the 'Whelp' so Dawn had asked what her name could be. Hence forth she had been christened Little Bit, to Spike at least. Buffy was just Buffy in front of company, but when alone, or in front of those who knew, he called her Slayer.

"Buffy's still upstairs" Dawn told Spike as she let him into the house. "How are you?"

"I'm just fine" he smiled, "Yourself?"

"Oh, you know" she shrugged, closing the door and trying to look grown up, attractive and sexy at the same time, and failing miserable. Spike wasn't even looking at her as Buffy came down the stairs.

"Hey" she greeted him and Dawn huffed as she stomped away to the kitchen to find her mother. Spike was gorgeous and she really liked him, but he only had eyes for her sister. It was so unfair since it seemed Buffy didn't want him at all.

"My stuff is in my room" Buffy said as she got two steps from the bottom, "So, if you wanna come up" she gestured to Spike as she turned to go back up and he followed, adjusting the bag on his back as he went.

He'd studied at Buffy's house before, as she'd studied at his, but always in the living room or the dining room, they'd never been in each others bedrooms. Buffy felt a little weird about it, but it was a lot of effort to take all her books down today, besides she knew Dawn wouldn't leave them alone if they worked downstairs. 'It's just a room and Mom and Dawn are just downstairs' she thought to herself, 'and we're just studying, get a grip' She had no idea Spike was thinking the exact same thing.

Little more than fifteen minutes into their studies, there was a knock on Buffy's bedroom door and Joyce came in to find her daughter seated on her bed with Spike on the desk chair, and maths books and papers everywhere.

"Buffy, your sister and I are going to the grocery store, is there anything you want?"

"No thanks Mom, we're good" the girl smiled as she glanced up from her work.

"Oh, okay" Joyce smiled once again as she back out of the room, "We shouldn't be long"

"Okay, Mom, see you later" Buffy told her mother calmly, panicking on the inside as she realised she was going to be alone in the house with Spike, in her bedroom.

"Bye Buffy, Bye Spike" the older woman glanced from her daughter to the boy beside her as she finally left the room,

"Goodbye Joyce" Spike glanced up to smile at the woman as she left, using her first name after being repeatedly told that 'Mrs Summers' made her feel old.

Five minutes later the front door clicked shut and the house was empty save for the two young people upstairs.

"Buffy?" Spike said glancing over at the girl with her nose buried deep in a text book.

"Yeah" she answered without looking up, knowing she risked drowning in those blue eyes of his if she did.

Spike sighed, taking the text book from her and forcing her to give him her attention. He placed the book beside her on the bed and pushed the wheeled chair he was on forward so he was right in front of her.

"What is it, Spike?" she said, annoyed at the interruption and desperate not to look at him too much.

"There's something I think we need to talk about.." he started, he had spent the whole time there in her room, not taking in a word or number written on the pages he'd supposedly read. He really needed to tell Buffy how he felt about her, even if she did tell him to go away and never come back. It was too hard to just ignore it anymore.

"Spike, unless this is a math related topic I don't want to hear it" she told him, looking away and reaching for the book she'd been reading. His hand went for it at the same time, to stop her and their fingers connected for a moment. 

It wasn't as if they'd never been in contact like that before, but the significance of that moment, the tension on the air and the words he needed to say to her...

"Buffy, I..." he began as their eyes locked onto one another at last.

The girl sighed with relief as the door bell rang. 

"Literally, saved by the bell" she whispered to herself as she dived for the bedroom door and right down the stairs as fast as she could, shaking as she went. The impatient person beyond the front door began knocking now as Buffy flew down the remaining stairs and flung open said door.

"Hey Buffy!" said the cheerful girl on the other side.

"Cordy?"

_To Be Continued..._


	14. Catching Up

A/N : Thanx for all the great reviews on this story - here's the next chapter. 

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1) 

Chapter 14 - Catching Up

"Cordy?!" Buffy gasped as she realised who the girl outside the door was.

"The one and only" the brunette smiled, stepping forward and grabbing the blonde in a hug.

"Oh my God it's so great to see you" Buffy gushed, almost unabe to believe her best friend was back, for now at least.

"I've missed you so much" Cordelia told her frind as they came out of their hug and she came inside the house "it's been the longest few weeks of my life since I left Sunnydale! I mean LA is totally cool but I missed having my friends, my real friends, like you..."

"Buffy...can we...?" Spike started as he came down the stairs, but he soon stopped when he saw Cordelia "Hey there" he nodded toward her.

"Hi" she replied, as they both looked at Buffy for an explanation.

"Oh, right, sorry" the blonde shook her head at her mistake in assuming everyone else knew what was going on like she did "Cordelia Chase this is my new next door neighbour Spike Hart"

Spike smiled at the beautiful brunette and although Cordy smiled back she also looked confused.

"Spike? That's a name?" she looked strangely at Buffy and spoke in a low voice, speaking as if the boy she was talking about wasn't even in the room.

"It's a nickname" Buffy explained "his real name's William but he hates it..." she turned to the bleach blond "Spike this is my best friend and old next door neighbour Cordelia Chase"

"It's nice to meet you, Spike" Cordy nodded once and Spike did the same.

"Likewise, Cordy"

There was a moment as the two looked at each other but Buffy soon interrupted it.

"Spike, could we call off the study thing for now?" she asked finally gaining his attention "I'm sorry but I haven't seen Cordy in a while and..."

"Oh no Buffy that's okay..." Cordelia interupted "Don't leave on my account" she told Spike "I mean, Buffy's old best friend should get to know her new boyfriend..."

"No!" Buffy interrupted loudly "He is _not_ my boyfriend!"

She hadn't meant to say it quite so loud and forcefully but it was too late now. She was so busy with her denial she didn't notice the hurt look on Spike's face when she said it.

"Oh, sorry, my mistake" Cordelia said quickly, she had seen the sad look on his face even if her friend hadn't.

Buffy turned to one frind and then the other.

"Cordy, could you just wait in the living room and Spike if you could get your stuff together from upstairs" turning back to the girl she promised she'd be no more than two seconds before bounding up the stairs behind Spike.

"Not your boyfriend?" Spike turned to face her as she came into the bedroom "So what is my title, Buffy?"

The blonde girl sighed in sheer annoyance.

"Not now Spike, please" she told him "just, not now"

Spike sighed in defeat as he picked up his books and his jacket and followed Buffy down the stairs. He thought about arguing with her, trying to make her listen but what good would it do? She opened the front door without a word and he left the same way.

Buffy closed the door with a thump and went into the living room towrads Cordelia who was sittng on the couch. The blonde sat beside her friend with a smile on her face.

"So, how are things with you?" she asked, hoping to Spike out of her mind for a while - no such luck.

"Nevermind me" Cordelia waved away the question with her hand "spill about the hottie!"

"What hottie...?" Buffy started before realising what she meant "You mean Spike? I told you, we're just friends" the blonde found she couldn't look her friend in the eye when she said it, but Cordy didn't notice. She glanced at the door Spike had disappeared through and then looked seriously back at her friend.

"Is he gay?" she asked solemnly and Buffy burst out laughing like she'd never stop.

"Spike? Are you kidding?" she gasped for air as she laughed.

"Well, that's the only way I can see that you wouldn't want to date him" Cordelia said seriously "even then you should at least try to convert him" she pressed "I would"

"Cordy!" Buffy snapped, her laughter finally dying down "He is my next door neighbour and he is my friend, that's all" she really didn't want this conversation.

"Please, tell me you noticed he was hot?" the brunette countered.

"Well, yeah, I guess..." Buffy mumbled.

"You guess?" Cordelia practically yelled "Buffy the guy is stunning!"

"Could we please talk about something other than Spike?" Buffy tried not to beg too much. She didn't want to be asked why it was such a big deal for them to change the subject, but she really did want Cordelia to let it go.

"Okay, okay" her friend relented "but I still think you're crazy" she added quietly.

Finally, Buffy could breathe a sigh of relief as Cordy told her all about her new home and friends. She explained that her parents had wanted to go away for the wekend and since they didn't like the idea of leaving their daughter home alone and she wanted to come back to Sunnydale to see her friends anyway, they let her stay with her grandmother who still lived there. Buffy didn't care where she was staying or why, she was just so glad to have her best friend back, even if it was only for a couple of days.

"How are Will and Xander?" the brunette asked suddenly.

"Oh, they're good" Buffy nodded "Willow is well on her way to being a really cool Wicca and Xander, well, he's still Xander, he tries really hard to help with the slayage and his fighting has definitely improved" without thinking she added "Spike's pretty much a natural and I patrol more with him than the others"

That just made Cordy laugh to herself, but she was loud enough that Buffy noticed.

"What was that for?" she eyed her friend suspiciously.

"Buffy, you spend hours patrolling with Spike?" she said, hoping Buffy would get it but the blonde gave her a distainctly lost look "In the dark? In the moonlight? Alone?" Cordy continued.

Buffy was still at a loss and with an exsasperated sigh Cordy asked her; "Is there kissing?"

"No!" her friend shouted immediatly "No, no, no....okay, maybe once" she added quietly.

"Once?" Cordelia checked.

"Okay it was twice" Buffy admitted with a slight red tint to her cheeks "but only once on patrol, the other time was at school" she added, trying to make it sound less than it was. Cordelia just grinned in satisfaction at the information she had managed to extract. In all honesty, Buffy didn't mind that she knew since Willow and Xander knew anyway, and it was never going to happen again...

"So, what? You just changed your mind?" the brunette was intrigued as to why her best friend would give up the chance to date such a gorgeous guy. He couldn't be annoying or stupid or anything since Buffy seemed to like him as a friend, so why not more than that?

"Yes" Buffy noddded once and Cordy shook her head.

"You sure you don't want him?" she checked a final time.

"Absolutely" the blonde nodded again "me and Spike - friends forever, but nothing more than that, ever" she was really trying to convince Cordy but more than that she was trying to convince herself.

__

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : I have also updated 'Always Remember - I Love You', for those who are interested.


	15. Planning and Scamming

A/N : I've been writing as often as possible all week but I never got around to updating my fics, so here it is, I'm updating this fic, 'Always Remember...' and posting a short story I wrote too...how much Spuffy can you handle? ;)

Btw - thanx for the review InfoGal - you have a great imagination, but that's not quite what I had in mind...

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 15 - Planning and Scamming

"Buffy?" a voice called as the front door opened.

"In here Mom" the woman's daughter replied and Joyce smiled when she went into the living room and saw the brunette girl there too.

"Hello, Cordelia it's nice to see you"

"Hey Mrs Summers" the girl smiled.

"Buffy" Joyce turned to her daughter "I left your sister at her friend Janices's house so you can get your studying done in peace tonight" she smiled at the girl before disappearing into the kitchen and Corelia frowned.

"Oh, so I guess Bronzing is out if you have to study" she said to her friend and Buffy also looked less than happy.

"Yeah...." she said before she suddenly had a thought. A wicked smile crossed her face as she got up to follow her mother. Cordelia went after her,wondering what was going on in her friends head.

"Mom? Can I take my books over to Cordy's grandmothers and study there, we have a lot of catching up to do"

Joyce turned from the cupboards where she was putting away some groceries.

"I guess that would be alright" she nodded "but I want you back early"

"Oh, that's okay Mrs Summers" piped up the quick thinking Cordy "Buffy can stay over at my grandmas, if that's okay with you"

"Well, I suppose that would be okay" the older woman agreed "but home before lunch tomorrow Buffy and plenty of studying, I do not want you failing math" she added sternly pointing a finger at her daughter. Buffy smiled big, hugging her mother briefly.

"Thanks Mom"

Five minutes later the two best friends were in Buffy's room, the blonde was packing a bag while Cordelia sat on her friends bed, slowly getting covered by tops, skirts, trousers and shoes that Buffy was throwing from the closet.

"So I am right? The coming to sleep over thing was a cover?" the brunette checked.

"Of course" her friend rolled her eyes, "We're hitting the Bronze tonight, I'll sleep over at your grandma's, be home by lunch and study in the afternoon" she smiled in triumph at her perfect scam.

"Sounds like a plan" her friend agreed as she spotted something shiny on the floor, just under the edge of the bed.

"Hey, what's this?" she asked, picking up the silver coloured item and turning it over in her hands "A lighter?" she realised "Oh my god, when did you start smoking?" she hissed to her friend causing Buffy to suddenly rush over from the closet and grab the item from her friends hands.

"It's not mine!" she snapped and on closer expression she added "It's Spike's, must have fallen out when he was up here..." at Cordy's look she quickly added "...studying!"

Cordelia smirked as she stood up, snatching the lighter back.

"Tell you what, you finish packing that bag, I'll take this next door"

"Why?" Buffy asked, narrowing her eyes, suspiciously.

"To be nice" Cordy said, unconvincingly as she made for the door "besides I wanna see what Mrs..er..."

"Hart" Buffy reminded her.

"Yeah, what Mrs Hart and her son have done to my house" she said as she made her way down the stairs and out of the Summers house. Buffy wasn't so sure they were the real reason that Cordy wanted to go next door, but she didn't care. It meant she wouldn't have to go and talk to Spike and if she was staying over at the oldest Mrs Chases's house tonight she probably wouldn't have to see him until Monday, right?

There was a knock on the door and Spike went to answer it, since his mother had already gone out. He was greeted by the grinning brunette he had met a few hours earlier.

"Hey Spike" she smiled and he smiled back though he wondered why she was on his doorstep.

"Cordelia, where's Buffy?" he asked, thinking it strange that this girl should be at his house without the only person they had in common.

"In the house" Cordelia replied, holding up his lighter "We found this in her room I said I'd bring it round"

"Oh, thanks" he nodded, taking it from her hand and cursing the fact that Buffy hadn't brought it herself, that had been the plan when he accidently on purpose left it behind.

"Buffy would have brought it herself but she's packing a bag to stay with me tonight" the brunette explained, almost as if she'd read his mind.

"Girls night in?" the bleach blonde asked, shoving the lighter into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Not really" Cordelia shook her head "it's an excuse so we can go to the Bronze instead of Buffy having to study...actually, you wanna come with?" she added as if it was an after thought, but it had been her plan the entire time.

"To the Bronze?" Spike considered it for a moment.

"Yeah, I mean, we're inviting Xander and Willow too and from what I hear you're quite the Slayerette yourself these days so you should come"

"I don't know" Spike answered, unsure as to how well he'd fit in once the old gang got back together, he was however enjoying the fact that Buffy had obviously been talking about him to her friend.

"Come on, we want you..." Cordelia paused "to be there" she added eventually with a sly smile, if Buffy wasn't going to have this guy maybe she'd have a go herself. Her look didn't go unnoticed and the boy in front of her was having similar thoughts. Surely if nothing was ever going to happen between him and Bufy he should try and move on...?

"Yeah, okay" he conceded "count me in"

"Great" the brunette smiled in triumph "Meet us there at seven, but don't tell anyone I don't want Joyce finding out and blowing a valve"

"It's cool" he smiled at her choice of phrase "My Mum's staying over at Giles's tonight anyway"

"Your Mom and Giles?" Cordelia gaped, "that's gotta be...weird"

Spike chuckled at her expression.

"Not really" he explained "since he's my father"

Cordy just gasped and headed back to the Summers house, barely pausing to say goodbye and compltely forgetting that she'd wanted to chat to Spike longer or that she'd wanted to see inside her old house.

"How could you not tell me that Spike's Dad was Giles!" she practically yelled as she burst into her friends room again.

"Oh sorry" Buffy covered her mouth with her hand and tried to surpress a giggle, she knew that would have been a shock, "It must have slipped my mind"

"Oh well" Cordelia sighed, sitting down on the bed again, "Spike's coming tonight"

"What?" Buffy gasped, "You invited him?"

"Of course" the brunette rolled her eyes, "If you don't want him..." she didn't need to finish the sentence as Buffy stuck up her hand in an 'I don't care' fashion and said;

"Whatever"

She pretended it didn't bother her but the idea of Spike liking Cordelia instead of her actually hurt. She couldn't be angry though, she was the one that had said friends was all they would ever be so she would deal. Everything would be fine,...right?

__

To Be Continued...


	16. Bronzing

A/N : A flash of inspiration brought forth this chapter which is one of the longest I've written for this story. I hope you approve of where the story goes, let me know by reviewing, please. Oh, and thanx to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter - I love reading your opinions of my work. For those reading 'Always Remember - I Love You' I should have another chapter of that done soon...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 16 - Bronzing

"Buffy, are you ready?" Cordelia tapped on the bathroom door at her grandmothers house and waited impatiently for her friend to appear.

"Almost" came the reply to her question and juts a moment later Buffy emerged, perfectly dressed for a night of Bronzing, in a short-ish skirt, halter top and boots.

"You look great" Cordy told her, "Out to impress someone, are we?"

"No-one special" Buffy shrugged, pushing passed her friend and heading down the stairs. Cordelia followed, not at all convinced. She had thought for a while that she'd made a mistake when she'd assumed there was something more than friendship between Buffy and Spike, but now she realised they were just in denial, both of them probably, but it seemed mostly Buffy.

As the pair travelled to the club, Cordy formed a plan. 'Either those two get together on their own tonight or I force them together!' she thought, and there were so many ways to do it too. Devious could be Miss Chase's middle name when she set her mind to something and tonight she had done just that. At the same time, Cordelia planned to have herself some fun and enjoy spending time with the friend she'd missed for the past month and the new one she'd made today.

"Cordelia!" she heard her name just a few moments after she'd entered the Bronze, Buffy right behind her. She looked around and saw Willow and Xander waving madly from their spot at the gangs regular table. They got up from their seats as their friends approached and both were quick to hug the brunette they had missed.

"Spike not here yet?" Buffy tried to be casual as she asked.

"You invited Spike?" Xander gaped, "Why would you want Captain Peroxide here?"

"She didn't invite him" Cordy snapped, "I did. Buffy made him sound like one of the gang so I figured he should be here"

"He is one of the gang" Willow nodded, giving Xander a look, "him and Xander just can't seem to play nice together, heaven only knows why" she rolled her eyes, only too aware of why the two guys disliked each other so much. They both liked Buffy, hence forth they both saw the other as competition, well, it was more that Xander saw Spike as competition and Spike just couldn't resist the urge to bite when 'the whelp' baited him.

"So, drinks" Xander said suddenly, "Sodas all round?"

The three girls agreed and the brunette went to fetch everyone a drink. He had barely left the table when the aforementioned bleached blond arrived.

"Evenin' ladies" he smiled as he sat down in the seat, recently vacated by Xander.

Willow and Cordy replied with a respective hello and hi, but Buffy barely looked up from the table top which she was studying. He had to admit that it bothered him.

"You okay, pet?" he asked, dipping his head to try and meet her eyes.

"I'm fine" she said, finally looking up, a fake smile on her face, just as Xander returned with a tray of four sodas.

"Hey, bleach boy, you're in my seat" he snapped at Spike as he put down the tray and the girls took their drinks and said thankyou.

"Your name on the chair is it, Harris?" Spike bit back.

"What would you do if I said yes?" the boy asked, arms folded across his chest, certain he'd won this one.

"Sit here anyway" Spike chuckled, not even bothering to turn and look at the person he was talking to. Cordy couldn't help but laugh at their ridiculous behaviour, but Willow was not amused, fixing them both with a stare similar to a mother angry at the squabbling amongst her children.

"Would you to at least try to behave decently in public?" she snapped.

"I'll behave decently when he does" Xander retorted, "And when he gives me my seat back!"

Cordelia rolled her eyes and decided to solve a couple of problems at once. She had found this argument amusing at first but Xander was getting loud and people were starting to look - it was embarrassing. Besides she needed to get Buffy's attention on Spike...

"Tell you what, I'll solve the problem" she told the standing man, "You can have your seat back because I'd like to dance with Spike" she said, turning to the man in question "that okay with you?"

"Er...yeah" Spike looked unsure but took the hand Cordelia offered and allowed himself to be led onto the dancefloor. Buffy was somewhat surprised to see her best friend and her...whatever Spike was, dancing together. It made her feel something which she wasn't really sure of. It was like a sick kind of pain right inside of her, and she didn't approve of it. She decided to ignore the dancers, talk to her friends and maybe the feeling would go away.

"So, Buffy, all ready for Monday's math test?" the red-head to her left asked.

"Not so much" the blonde admitted, "But I'll have plenty of time to cram tomorrow" Buffy knew there was no point asking Willow if she was ready since she always was when it came to school type things. Willow was the brainy-type where Buffy was the physical-strength type. Sometimes the Slayer wished she could be greedy and have the brains and the power and on top of that the ability to deal with confusing emotions and understanding of weird feelings she had sometimes, but no, life wasn't that kind.

"Hello? Buffy? Anyone at home?" Buffy was vaguely aware of a hand waving in front of her face and zoned back in to see Xander standing right beside her.

"What, sorry?" she mumbled.

"Me and Wills are gonna dance" her male friend told her "are you coming with?"

"Er, no, thanks, I'll just sit here and drink this" she smiled a little holding up her soda and suddenly wishing she were old enough to get something stronger. Alcohol was not something Buffy usually thought much about and she didn't have much experience of it but she thought drunk might be a nice feeling, it had to be better than the way she felt now. She was tired and confused and...that unidentifiable feeling too. 

Buffy glanced over at the dance floor. The music had recently changed to a slow song and Spike and Cordy were still out there, now wrapped up in each others arms and looking decidedly cosy. Further around, the Slayer saw Willow and Xander who seemed not as cosy but at least comfortable swaying together to the slow rhythm.

'And then there's me' Buffy thought to herself, 'Alone and bored and, God help me, I'm jealous, and I can't even drink my troubles away like other people just because of my age!'

She realised that during all this thinking her soda had disappeared and she moved toward to bar to fetch another. As the waiter fetched her another drink, Buffy noticed a glass just down the bar from her. It appeared to belong to a man who had his back to her and his arms around a woman in front of him. Buffy shifted to the side until the more-or-less abandoned glass of what seemed to be whisky was within reaching distance. She glanced to the left and right and then again at the mans back before slidng the glass in front of her, tensing herself and gulping down the drink in one go.

It tasted disgusting and the alcohol burned as it slid down her throat, both making her cough and gag.

'Well, that was...different' Buffy thought to herself, lowering herself onto a barstool in front of the place where her soda had now appeared. She gulped at it, hoping to disperse of the taste of the whiskey but finding the mixture of the two flavours actually seemed worse.

She decided to give in and head back to the table to wait for her friends but halfway between the bar and the table she saw another seemingly abandoned drink or half of one at least. Buffy wasn't sure what it was, but it looked like it would taste better than the current flavour in her mouth. Swiftly she picked up the glass and downed the contents, finding the flavour better than the whiskey but still wincing as the alcohol content burnt her throat.

Her steps seemed to waver as she finally wobbled back to the table. For someone not used to alcohol, Buffy had just consumed a lot. One whisky and half of...something else alcoholic, had rendered her semi-drunk in under five minutes!

On the up side she noticed it that dull ache inside hurt less now when she saw her friends happily dancing together, even the closeness of Cordy and Spike was less repulsive and painful now. 'Just one more drink' Buffy thought to herself as she scanned the tables surrounding her, 'and I won't notice at all'

* * * * *

After five songs, Spike, Cordelia, Xander and Willow were all officially beat and needed a drink and a rest before anymore dancing was partaken of. They found their table empty of both drinks and Buffy when they got back.

"Where'd the Buffster go?" Xander wondered aloud as she sat down.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom" Willow suggested, "I have to go anyway" she said, standing up, "I'll check"

There was a little conversation between the remaining three Scoobies and most of the talking was Cordy telling her old and new male friends about her new home and new life, until Willow returned and announced that Buffy was not in the bathroom.

"Maybe she's dancing with someone?" Cordelia wondered aloud, but no-one could see the Slayer on the dancefloor, "Or maybe she went after a vamp?"

"Maybe" Willow nodded, "Should we go look outside?"

"She'll be fine" Xander assured her, "She'll probably be back any minute"

The friends continued to talk amongst themselves unaware that Buffy was in fact not that far away at all. She was still in the Bronze, over by the bar, deciding that getting drunk was fun. She didn't care about Spike and Cordy at all, 'not at all' she told herself, downing the remnants of another persons drink. If she'd have been using her head at all the girl would have realised how dangerous her 'game' was, not only the getting drunk but drinking from strangers glasses and not really knowing what she was drinking had dangers all of it's own. But Buffy's now marinated brain was not even close to working full capacity as she sneak a glass of what appeared to be vodka closer to herself and drained the final drops that someone had left behind, not even sparing a thought for her friends.

"She must have gone home or something?" Xander guessed, "Or maybe she went patrolling?" 

"But I don't see why she would do that without telling us" Willow frowned.

"Don't panic, Red" said Spike suddenly, "Wherever the Slayer is you know she can take care if herself" he assured her, despite the fact he was starting to worry himself. It wasn't like Buffy to disappear for this amount of time and without telling anyone.

"Well, I'm gonna get a drink" Cordelia proclaimed, standing up from her seat, "Anyone else?"

"No, not me" Xander yawned, "I'm beat, I'm gonna head home"

"Me too" Willow agreed, pulling herself up off of her stool.

"Come on Wills, I'll walk you home" Xander offered the girl his arm with a smile and she took it with a similar grin on her own face. She felt bad for it but she was almost glad Buffy had disappeared for a while, at least she'd got Xander's attention for a while.

"What about you, Spike?" Cordy asked him as Xander and Willow left, "Another drink?"

"Yeah, why not?" the boy nodded, with a half smile. He really wasn't happy about not knowing where Buffy was despite the fact he knew she was quite capable of looking after herself. He headed for the bar with Cordelia by his side and that was when they saw her.

The blonde Slayer was half collapsed over the bar, seemingly either asleep or semi-unconscious. Immediately Spike was by her side and shaking her gently.

"Buffy, luv, what the bloody hell happened to you?"

"Hi Spikey" the overly drunk girl giggled, "And Cordy, hello" she sing-songed.

"Oh God" the brunette gasped, "Is she drunk? Who would serve her alcohol?"

"I don't know" Spike shook his head, "but someone must have" as Cordelia moved to the other side of her friend and fought to gain her attention.

"Buffy, when did you start drinking alcohol?"

"Just today" the Slayer told her honestly, "but it's a lot of fun" she giggled, "I wish I'd started sooner"

"Oh God" Cordelia exclaimed again, rolling her eyes, "What are we going to do with her?"

Spike shook his head, at a loss for words or an idea. He'd never imagined Buffy could be so stupid as to get herself into such a state, and why had she bothered anyway?

Suddenly the brunette girl's cell phone rang into life and she realised as she tried to answer it that she could not hear as the music of the club increased suddenly in volume.

"I'm just going to take this outside" she yelled to Spike as she disappeared and the bleach blond sighed, slumping down on the stool next to Buffy.

"Why'd you do this, luv?" she asked her and she tried to pull herself up straight, wavering on the stool as she did so.

"That's none of your business" she said as seriously as she could, before bursting into giggles for no apparent reason. 'She's gonna have a hell of hangover' Spike thought to himself. He had not been the most sensible of kids and in his time he had got wasted once or twice, minimum. He knew what it felt like to be drunk and worse what it felt like in the morning.

Suddenly, Cordelia returned to them with a frown.

"I have to go" she told Spike, "That was the hospital, my grandma's had a fall and I have to get home. Can you get Buffy home on your own?"

"No problem" Spike lied, knowing he'd just have to cope, however complicated it was. Joyce would go crazy when she saw her drunken daughter and he had no doubt he might get some of the blame since he would be the one bringing her home, but he'd just have to deal. He couldn't expect Cordelia not to go to her grandmothers aid and it would do no good calling Willow or Xander since they didn't have cell phones and they wouldn't be home yet.

"Looks like it's just you and me" he whispered, more to himself than to Buffy, wishing the prospect of being alone with her was as appealing as usual, but in her drunken state, he had a feeling it was going to be less than fun.

__

To Be Continued...

****


	17. Too Close For Comfort

A/N : I said I'd have this up in a couple of days and I've kept my promise! Here's the next chapter - Buffy is drunk and alone with Spike...what will happen next? Hope you like this, all reviews are welcome. Thanx for all the great reviews so far - you guys are the best : )

(For main disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1. Extra disclaimer - line about the word 'drunk' being anglo-saxon, etc is borrowed from episode 'Something Blue')

Chapter 17 - Too Close For Comfort

Spike looked down at the Slayer who now had her head resting on the bar, glancing up at him. She looked beautiful as ever, he thought, despite the fact she was completely drunk out of her head.

"Hi Spikey" she smiled and giggled like a child.

"Hey now, Buffy" he couldn't help but smile back "Come on, time to go home" he said as he helped her up off the stool. She stumbled a little but he managed to keep her upright and direct her through the crowds, holding onto her by the waist and walking behind her.

"You're gonna take me home?" Buffy tried to turn her head to talk to him as they walked.

"Yep, time you were in bed" Spike spoke without thinking and soon regretted his words as Buffy turned around in his grasp and ceased her childish giggling.

"You're gonna take me to bed?" she asked softly and Spike had to close his eyes as he forced several dangerous thoughts from his mind.

"Yes, to your own bed, Buffy" he said firmly "and then I'm going to my own bed" he completed as they finally exited the Bronze and started off down the street.

"Oh..." Buffy sighed, dejectedly, before asking matter-of-factly "Why is the ground spinning?"

"Because you're drunk, perhaps?" Spike suggested with a touch of a smirk and a good helping of sarcasm.

"Nooo!" Buffy drew out the word in protest, as she stopped and turned again to look at him "Drunk is such a strong word, like a guttural Anglo-Saxon word - drunk" she explained and Spike sighed.

"Trust you to know complex sentences when you're smashed, Slayer" he smiled down at her and she looked up into his eyes and for a moment, with the moonlight and the stars and the feelings... 'but, she's drunk', Spike reminded himself quickly. He made to start moving her along again but she wouldn't budge.

"Y'know what?" she smiled up at him.

"What is it now, pet?" he asked with frustration as he steadied her wavering form.

"You have really pretty eyes" she told him with a smile and he suddenly didn't care if she was drunk, he just wanted to kiss her. She was making it too hard to resist.

"Really?" he asked as he leant towards her, but the alcohol finally staged a revolt with the inside of the girls body and put in a re-appearance all over the pavement, along with everything she'd eaten in the last day or so.

Spike sighed in defeat as Buffy sank to her knees on the sidewalk and heaved. This was hardly how he'd planned his night to go, not at all.

It was about half an hour later when Spike had got his Slayer off of the floor and more or less carried her to Revello Drive.

"If I take you home in this state your Mum's gonna kill me, mine too when she finds out" Spike said more to himself than to Buffy since she really wasn't coherent enough to understand anyway right now, "so, looks like I'm taking you to my bed after all Slayer" he smirked as he helped her up the porch steps and in through his own front door, careful to be quiet and not draw attention from the next door neighbour he was trying to avoid.

"Spike, I don't feel so good" Buffy moaned as they went through the door "I think I'm gonna...y'know" she gestured that she meant throw up.

"Buffy, you already did" he pointed out and she looked confused when she said;

"Oh" before promptly slipping down the wall he had leant her against while he was locking the door.

"Come on, luv" he smiled, sweeping her literally off her feet and carrying her up the stairs. He'd expected her to be quite heavy, all the muscles she had being the Slayer, but she was feather light and seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. He smiled to himself, he'd had dreams about carrying Buffy to his bedroom, but this was not quite how he'd had it planned.

Spike kicked the door to his bedroom open with his foot and placed the semi-conscious girl on the bed, his bed - this was weird.

"You feeling any better yet?" he asked as knelt beside the her.

"Maybe a little" she said quietly, her eyes closed already.

"I reckon someone's gonna have a killer hangover in the morning" Spike smiled as he dared to reach out his hand and push some stray hair from her face "Just try to get some sleep, Slayer"

He made to stand up and walk away but turned back when he heard her infectious laughter again.

"I can't sleep with my boots on, silly" she giggled and Spike rolled his eyes, walking around to the foot of the bed and removing the aforementioned footwear for her.

"Better?" he asked, dropping the boots down by the side of the bed. Buffy shrugged and nodded a little as she glanced over at him. He kicked off his own boots and tried to get comfortable in a chair with a blanket, not the ideal place to sleep, but he'd suffer for a night for her sake.

"Now will you get some sleep, then maybe I can too" he said, closing his eyes. Just a few seconds later, he was disturbed again.

"Spike?"

"Yes, Buffy?" he sighed

"Aren't you gonna kiss me goodnight?" she asked, innocence in every word, since she was too drunk to really know what she was asking.

"I don't think that's a good idea, luv" the young man told her, moving from the chair to stand beside the bed again. God how he wanted to kiss her, but he couldn't take advantage, he did have some morals, although right then he wished he had less of a conscience.

"Why not?" she complained, grabbing at his hand and pulling him down to sit beside her "I won't go to sleep until you do" she fluttered her eye-lashes and tried to be innocent but he knew better.

"You're a nuisance do you know that, Slayer?" Spike asked rhetorically as he leaned over to place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Buffy just giggled her drunk laugh in response and shook her head as much as she dared in her current condition

"You don't kiss me on the forehead!" she told him "You're not my Mom!" and with that she closed her eyes tight and pouted in preparation for what she really wanted. Spike knew what she wanted, and he also knew how much he wanted it too, and infinitely more. He leaned over her, taking in her angelic face before closing his eyes, their lips a mere hairs breadth apart. He placed the most tender of kisses on her lips, just a few seconds of contact, before he pulled away again and opened his eyes to see her smile.

"How was that?" he asked in a whisper, his head spinning from the strength of his own feelings right at that moment.

He waited for some verbal answer, but the girl didn't have one. Her eyes opened slowly as her hand travelled up to his face, she ran her fingers across his cheek before coming to rest behind his head. She leaned up, her eyes closing again and he knew what she was doing, even if she was only half-aware. As much as he wanted to kiss her again, to be in her arms, to show her just what he felt for her...those damn morals and his annoying conscience wouldn't let him, not like that. 

Quickly but gently, Spike slid from the edge of the bed and got to his feet, her hand falling away as he moved. He turned back to the chair and blanket he would use for a bed tonight and, without looking back at the silent girl on his bed he whispered; "Sweet dreams, Slayer"

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To Be Continued...


	18. The Morning After The Night Before

A/N : Wow, I have over 100 reviews now! Thankyou so much to all you lovely people who wrote nice reviews - you're very kind and you make me want to write more often, which is pretty amazing since I want to write most of the time anyway : ) I'm glad you're all enjoying this so much. I have to warn you though, there are only going to be another five or six chapters I think and then it will all be over (if everything goes according to the plan, that is). Anyway, enough of my rambling, here's the next chapter! (Please review if you want more soon!)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 18 - The Morning After The Night Before

"Spike!" the young man awoke at the sound of his name being yelled through the house, loud enough to wake the dead, never mind a person just a few feet from the location of the sound "Spike!"

'What the bloody hell?' he wondered as he sat up and looked over at Buffy, writhing on his bed and screaming his name.

"You pick your nights to have nightmares, Slayer" Spike sighed, pushing the blanket from his body and moving over to the bed. He sat on the edge and grabbed the girls upper arms, holding her still, afraid that she would hurt herself or roll herself completely off of the bed, cracking her head on the cabinet on the way down.

"Buffy? Buffy, wake up, luv" he said, softly shaking her. He was surprised to see a smile spread across her face. Still very much asleep she calmed her movement and he moved to let go of her, but she stopped him, grabbing the hands he tried to take away Heaven only knows how she did it when she was so fast asleep but then perhaps her dream and reality were closer than he realised.

"Oh Spike" she whispered, sliding her hands up his arms.

'She's dreaming about me?' he wondered, a smile creeping across his own lips. Her hands on his shoulders and the look on her face was silently begging him to come closer, but when she was asleep? That was no better, actually it was probably worse, than when she was drunk. 

"Do I have no luck at all?!" he asked any forces above that would listen, it was only after he'd done it that he realised how loudly he'd not so much spoken as yelled. His outburst awoke his very own Sleeping Beauty who was somewhat shocked to find herself in Spike's room, on his bed, with him very practically on top of her - but that had been a dream right?

"Oh God - Spike?" she gasped, looking up into his face.

"I'm right here" he told her. What would she think now?

"I just...I..." she stumbled on her words. She had been asleep, it had been a dream, but he was here and her dream, her thoughts, the feelings were still clear in her mind. He was inches away, she could just...

She was awake now, she was probably hungover but no longer drunk and there was wanting in her eyes, he knew that look, it would be so easy just to...

"William!" a voice boomed from the front door.

"Oh, bugger!" Spike cursed, getting up from the bed in somewhat of a panic. His mother seemed to have worse timing than he had luck!

"What's going on?" Buffy wondered, suddenly very aware that her dream was most definitely over and panic was setting in as to how much of it had been reality! What was she doing in Spike's bedroom? And why when she tried to sit up did her head protest so much?

"Just keep quiet pet" the bleach blond told her in a whisper as he headed for the bedroom door "and do not come out of this room, okay?" he said just before he exited, waiting only long enough for her reply.

"Okay, but..." she was cut off by the door closing loudly, sending another jolt of pain through her skull. She didn't have the energy or the inclination to worry about what was going on right now, she just wanted to lie still and hope it all went away.

"Hey Mum" Spike greeted his mother as she came up the stairs.

"Will, what's going on?" she asked suspiciously as she met him on the landing.

"Nothing, nothing's going on" he assured her, ushering toward her own bedroom, out of the way "Why'd you ask?"

"No reason" Jessica shook her head but continued to eye her son suspiciously "You're acting very strangely" she observed.

"I've always been strange Mum" he smirked "you only just noticed?"

"Very funny, dear" she smiled, patting him on the shoulder "Now, I'm going to go have a shower and get changed" she gestured toward her room and the bathroom "You wanna make a start on lunch for me?"

"Lunch?" Spike echoed in confusion.

"It's almost eleven already William" Jessica frowned "you did notice, right?"

After a moment of stunned silence, Spike nodded his head and smiled.

"Sure, yeah. You go have that shower Mum, relax, I'll start the food"

"You're a good boy" she smiled, ruffling his hair as she headed for her shower.

"Yeah, right" he said to himself, "If only you knew"

He watched his mother disappear into the room before turning back to his own. He still had a very hungover and confused Slayer to get out of the house before his mother noticed.

On re-entering the room he found said Slayer still on his bed, but sitting on the edge by now. She looked tired, confused and generally un-Buffy like, but to Spike she looked as beautiful as ever she had.

"Time to go, luv" he said somewhat sadly, he'd love to pick up where they'd left off a few moments before, but his priority right now had to be not getting killed by his own mother or Joyce, and therefore getting Buffy out of his house, fast.

"I feel awful" the Slayer groaned, clutching her head.

"Thought you might" Spike admitted, picking up her boots for her and urging her to out them on quickly.

"Last night" she frowned, as she pulled on her footwear "I don't remember much..." she glanced around the room and then over at Spike "oh God, I didn't, I mean, we..."

"Buffy, calm down" he hissed as her voice got progressively higher and louder " I don't have a lot of time to talk right now, you need to go home, because if my Mum finds you here we're both in trouble" he explained, but she still looked panicked. He sighed "I promise, pet, last night I carried you here, took your boots off for you and we slept, separately, you on the bed, me in the chair"

He watched relief fall over her features, knowing he could have really wound her up but all too aware of the lack of time right now.

"Right now though, we really need to get you out of here" he said again, getting her to stand up and pulling her by the hand toward the bedroom door. He stood and listened for a second but Buffy would not keep quiet.

"Okay...but what happened to Cordy?"

Spike rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Her grandma had a fall, ended up at the hospital, Cordelia had to go look after her"

"Oh, poor Cordy" Buffy sympathised as Spike peeked out onto the landing. His mother was in the shower, he could here the water running. He opened the door fully and started across the landing toward the sitars before realising Buffy's hand had slipped out of his.

"Yeah, movement of the essence here, luv" he called back to her in a whisper.

"Oh, sorry" she said, shaking her head lightly, trying to clear the fog that was inside. 'Why don't I remember?' she wondered as she was dragged down the stairs and the front door was opened. The sunlight made her wince as it hit her eyes.

"Will!" Jessica's voice called loudly from upstairs.

"Oh bugger" Spike cursed, shoving the girl beside him out of the front door "Buffy go"

"Will I see you later?" she asked just before the door closed.

"Count on it, pet" he smiled briefly before slamming the door closed and not at all improving Buffy's headache.

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To Be Continued...


	19. Tell Me About It

A/N : Hey, no-one reviewed chapter 18! *cries* Are you bored with the story? Was it not good? Or did no-one notice the update? Well, here's the next chapter and I hope it gets read, enjoyed and reviewed.....please?

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

****

Chapter 19 - Tell Me About It

"Buffy, is that you?" Joyce called too loudly for Buffy's head to handle just as she came through the front door.

"Hey Mom" she smiled, weakly, as her mother appeared in the hall.

"Did you have a nice time with Cordy? Actually, more importantly, did you get your studying done?" Mrs Summers checked.

"Yes and well, yes" Buffy lied all too well with another fake grin, wishing she could avoid the Spanish Inquisition or rather the Mom Inquisition which was actually probably worse. And just when Buffy thought she'd got away with it and made it to the stairs.

"Where are your books?"

"My books?" Buffy winced with her back to her mother "Well..."

"Mom!"

'Saved by the Dawn!' Buffy thought with a sigh, maybe she was useful sometimes. Of course with her out of the house no doubt little sister had wanted to help make lunch and by the tone of that scream Buffy estimated at least half the kitchen was aflame.

"Coming, honey" Joyce called to her youngest, moving quickly to the kitchen "Wash up for dinner, Buffy, we'll talk about it later, okay?"

"Sure" Buffy nodded, satisfied she'd got away with it, at least for a while. 

The eldest Summers as glad to reach the sanctuary of her bedroom, but something was bugging her. There had to be more to last night than she could remember? She knew she'd got drunk and she knew why and how but everything else was very blurry, except for a very real-feeling dream just before she woke up.

She wondered, as she changed her clothes, why it was Spike who'd brought her home. Why not Willow since she was her best friend and a girl, surely that would've made more sense. 

"Why can't I remember?" she asked her reflection in the mirror as she removed last nights makeup and brushed her hair. It was the only thing on her mind as she went down to eat and her thoughts, coupled with her hangover meant she really wasn't hungry.

"You've hardly touched your lunch baby, are you okay?" Joyce asked, reaching to feel Buffy's forehead and check her temperature.

"Yeah, I..I'm fine I just..." the girl tried to think of an excuse but her head hurt too much and her stomach was turning over and over.

"I hope you didn't eat too much junk at Cordy's last night" her mother asked and Buffy was glad to have been supplied with an excuse.

"You caught me" she lied "there was junk food, sorry"

"Well, I guess once in a while won't kill you" Joyce smiled a little "just don't make a habit of it"

"Mom, do you mind if I go lie down for a while" Buffy asked as the smell of the food and the whirling in her head became unbearable "I have a headache"

"Okay, honey" Joyce said kindly as Buffy left the room "I'll bring you some aspirin soon" she called after her.

"Thanks" came the reply as the Slayer hurried up the stairs as fast as her legs could manage in their present state.

Lying on her bed, Buffy tried once again to piece together what had happened last night.

'Will and Xan, and Spike and Cordy were dancing' she thought 'then I started drinking' that was where she hit some trouble. 'Spike said Cordy had to go home to look after her grandmother...well that's a blank, don't remember that at all. Then presumably we left the Bronze, me and Spike, still blank, and he brought me back to his house so that neither of us got in trouble...'

Things were getting clearer now, bits and pieces of dialogue and actions were popping up in her clouded brain.

__

"You feeling any better yet?" he asked as knelt beside the her.

"Maybe a little" she said quietly, her eyes closed already.

"I reckon someone's gonna have a killer hangover in the morning" Spike smiled as he dared to reach out his hand and push some stray hair from her face "Just try to get some sleep, Slayer"

"Spike?"

"Yes, Buffy?" he sighed

"Aren't you gonna kiss me goodnight?" she asked.

'Oh God did I really say that?' Buffy asked herself, covering her face with her hands despite the fact no-one was in the room to see her go red. But he'd done it she remembered now, one light kiss on her lips, she could feel it if she concentrated and she was glad too. After that though, she'd tried to kiss him back...he hadn't let her, why not? Supposedly he liked her...

'Why wouldn't he kiss me? Bastard!' she cursed. She'd wanted to be kissed, she remembered wanting it and he'd turned her down. Her manic thoughts were interrupted as she heard a knock on the front door and her mother go to open it. From the voice she knew it was him...

"Hey Joyce, is Buffy around?" Spike smiled to the woman he liked so much, she'd been such a friend to his mother and always treated him decently, unlike her daughter.

"Yes, but she's not feeling too well right now" Mrs Summers explained. Spike had to admit he'd expected that, she would still have the hangover from hell he knew, but he needed to talk to her about last night.

"Oh, well, could I see her, just for a while, it's important" he pleaded.

"Oh" Joyce smiled "is it about the big math test tomorrow?"

"Er...yeah, that's right" he hated to lie to her but the truth would get both him and Buffy into trouble, and he hated that more.

"Come on in" the woman agreed immediately and there was s satisfied smile on Spike's face as he entered the house. He didn't even notice Dawn as she emerged from the living room to see him, he was a man on a mission - half way up the Summer's stairs before Joyce had even closed the front door.

He tapped lightly once on the slightly ajar door of Buffy's room before going inside.

"Hey Slayer, how's the head?" he said, quietly.

"Go away Spike" she spat, laying on her side on the bed, trying to keep her back to him. He walked around the other side to see her face.

"Someone's back to their old self" he smirked.

"What part of 'go away' do you not understand?" she snapped, turning over to face the other way.

"Buffy" he sighed, sitting down on the bed by her back that she was determined to keep facing him "I just wanted to make sure you were okay" he told her "Besides you should be thanking me" he added quietly.

"Thanking you?" she half-yelled, turning and sitting up too fast "For what?" she demanded to know, her arms folded over her chest as she swallowed hard and bit back the nausea.

"If you'd have come home the state you were in last night, Joyce would've killed you" Spike hissed with annoyance at her attitude "I saved your arse"

"So you say" Buffy said grumpily, looking away.

"Yeah, I do say" he retorted. They were, he realised, both being very childish.

"And after that?" Buffy asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"After what?" he countered with a tilt of his head.

"What happened when you took me to your house?" she elaborated, awaiting his answer with interest - a lie or a truth? Which would he offer?

"I already told you" he sighed in annoyance again "you slept on the bed, I slept in the chair"

"And?" she prompted.

He didn't answer as he got up from the edge of the bed and wandered over to look out of the window.

"And nothing" he said eventually, his back to her. Buffy knew avoidance all too well. If he couldn't look her in the eye, he was lying, not that she needed to work it out that way, she remembered last night all too clearly now, well, at least the parts with her and Spike and the kissing or lack thereof.

"Nothing happened that I should know about?" she asked him, no hint in her voice to show she knew he was lying "I didn't say anything, do anything embarrassing, that I should be told about?"

"No" he answered too fast.

"Liar!" she shouted causing him to spin around and look he straight in the eye.

"You remember..." he realised all too suddenly.

"Of course I remember!" she yelled, getting off the bed in one move and standing before him, "I came on to you, twice, and both times you turned me down" she said, angrily, but there was hurt in her eyes, "I thought you liked me"

"I do, but..." he began to protest but she turned away, she didn't want to hear it.

"But nothing, if you did you wouldn't have run away"

"I didn't run" he argued "I just...moved quickly" he explained somewhat lamely. Buffy sighed as she turned back to face him. Glancing between his face and the floor, she spoke much more quietly now.

"Look, Spike, I thought you liked me and you don't, and don't worry about it because...I don't like you either" 

"So what was last night about?" he asked, incredulously.

"I was drunk" she shrugged, as if it were obvious "you were there - call it convenience" she felt bad when she saw the pain on his face, the brightness in his blue eyes fading to dull blue-grey.

"You can be an unfeeling chit sometimes, y'know that, Slayer?" he said in a tone that should have been angry, but it just came out pained.

"Oh just get out Spike!" she shot at him, turning her back so he wouldn't see her tears. She didn't want to hurt him, but he'd hurt her, and yes, she kind of understood why but she didn't want to lose face.

"I'll go, gladly..." the bleach blond almost growled as he left "ungrateful, pain in the..."

Buffy tried to block out the sound of him stomping down the stairs and out of the front door. Tears streamed down her face as she realised how awful she'd really been to him. Why did she push him away? Why couldn't she just let him into her life, her heart? Why did it have to be so hard?

The Next Day...

Monday morning and, as usual, the Slayer had called next door for Spike so they could walk to school together, but he'd already left without her. Half of her felt bad and wanted to apologise for what she'd said and done before, the other half was still mad at him for one thing and another and didn't care that he'd ditched her.

Deep in thought, the girl almost didn't here Willow calling her name.

"Hey Buffy" the red-head beamed as she hurried to walk through the school grounds with her best friend "we lost you the other night. Where'd you go?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" Buffy half-smiled at her friend as they walked.

"Well, try me" Willow pressed, intrigued.

"I got kind of drunk" the blonde admitted and the witch's mouth dropped wide open.

"Drunk?" she echoed, loudly.

"Geez Will, foghorn much?" Buffy almost laughed.

"Sorry, but..wow, what happened?" her friend was eager to know. Buffy was way more 'adventurous' than her, but to go and get drunk, that wasn't Buffy's style - something was wrong.

"Spike found me, took me home" Buffy shrugged "to his home" she amended "I was so out of it it took me hours to even remember what happened"

"You and Spike, together, in his room..." Willow put together to and two and got the usual five "what did happen?"

"Nothing like that" her friend said quickly, immediately on the offensive. She knew that look on Willow's face all too well "well, not really anyway" she amended "but I don't want to talk about it please, I just want to concentrate on this math test, God knows I didn't study much, I should at least concentrate now" she pleaded, in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

"Okay..." Willow conceded, before adding "but you would tell me if something happened, wouldn't you?"

"Of course" Buffy nodded to her best friend "but it didn't" she said, somewhat sadly and Willow couldn't help but notice the disappointment in her look and tone. "If anything had of happened" the Slayer quickly covered "you would know, what with Spike being dead and all for daring to touch me"

"Okay..." Willow smiled slightly, knowing that was an out and out lie and one she would do something about...

"Hey Xan" she said to her other best friend at lunch, before Buffy arrived in the cafeteria, "We meeting at the Bronze tonight?"

"Sure thing, Will" the brunette nodded, stuffing too much food into his mouth as usual.

"Seven thirty, okay?" she checked.

"Sounds good" Xander replied, showing off the contents of his mouth, much to Willow's disgust.

"Hey guys" Buffy greeted them as she joined them at the table, she smiled but her heart wasn't in it.

"Something wrong, Buff?" Xander checked.

"No, just the math test was way hard, especially when I didn't do much studying" she sighed.

"Is that all that's wrong?" Willow asked, knowing that Buffy wouldn't be this down over just one test. But Buffy said that was all it was and the red-head pretended to agree with her. What really gave it away was when Xander asked 'Where's Captain Peroxide today?' and Buffy got even quieter and more weird.

Willow knew, even if Xander was too oblivious to notice, that Buffy and Spike should be together and that if they both just came out and said it, that they really liked each other, they could be so great together.

'And they will be great together' Willow thought to herself with a satisfied smile, 'If everything goes according to plan, I'll have them together before the night is out'

****

To Be Continued...


	20. Love Is Blind

A/N : Hey everyone! Thanx so much for the reviews on the previous chapter, I guess there is a point to me continuing with this, you lot are reading it and liking it after all! Anyway, as a warning, there is no actual Spuffy in this chapter as such but it's still important and it's got a lot of Spike in it and Willow too. The major Spuffy will be in the next chapter, I promise, but don't worry that won't be the end of this story, still lots of stuff left to happen...hope you like this and hope you review ;-) Oh, quick note to Infogal - I think the reasons for Buffy and Spike not being together will get clearer, but a lot of it is her emotional stuff and both of them being stubborn. Also to SlayrGrl55 - tying Spikey to a chair sounds like a good policy to me ;-)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 20 - Love Is Blind

Spike checked his hair in the mirror, slipped on his jacket and made his way out of the front door. He was headed for the Bronze, which wasn't abnormal at all, except for the fact that he was going to meet Willow, alone.

He'd only been home from school a few minutes when the phone had rung and it had been the girl he called Red.

"Meet me at the Bronze at seven, okay?" she'd said more like an order than a request, and that wasn't like Willow at all, she was usually so quiet and shy, Spike knew whatever she needed to see him about it had to be important. He agreed immediately, worried that his good friend might be in some kind of trouble and also feeling guilty that by avoiding Buffy all day he had also not seen the red-head, or the whelp.

"Hey, Spike" the witch called him over with a smile on her face as soon as he entered the club. He went to sit beside her, now seriously confused. She looked too happy for there to be a problem, so why was he here, alone with her? Only one thing made sense but they'd agreed from the beginning that friends was all they'd ever be, he liked Buffy and she liked Xander too much for things to be any other way.

"Hey Red" he smiled, nervous but trying to hide it, "what's up?"

"Nothing's up with me" she smiled, before cutting immediately to the chase "What's going on with you and Buffy?"

Spike sighed, finally getting it.

"What did she tell you?"

"Doesn't matter" Willow shrugged, passing her friend one of the two sodas she'd just ordered for them "I wanna hear your side"

Spike sipped at his drink, before taking a deep breath and looking down at his fidgeting hands in his lap.

"I love her" he admitted, in a quiet voice, that sounded nothing like the Spike that Willow was used to "more than I've ever loved anyone and it scares me half to death how much I want her but..." he sighed again "she keeps blowing hot and cold on me, silly bint drives me crazy..." he laughed in spite of himself before explaining about two nights ago and exactly what he had done and not done, followed by Buffy's reaction on Sunday morning "...I guess I know the truth now though" he finished sadly "she's never gonna feel the same way about me as I do about her"

Willow had to bite her lip so as not to laugh when she replied to his little speech.

"You two really are ridiculous, you know that?"

"Hey, I'm bearing my innermost here, Red! A little sympathy wouldn't go amidst" Spike complained. How dare she laugh at him when he was opening up to her in a way he found really hard with most people? He thought she was supposed to be his mate!

"I'm sorry, I am" the witch quickly apologised "but you really have no idea, do you?"

"About what?" Spike asked, looking back at her.

"Buffy!" she exclaimed as if it should be obvious, "She loves you!"

"Yeah, right, like hell she does" the bleach blond scoffed, gulping at his soda for something to do.

"Spike..." Willow shook her head, beginning to think her efforts were hopeless.

"Did she tell you?" Spike said suddenly "Did she actually say it?"

Willow's silence told him what he'd expected but dreaded.

"Thought not" he said sadly, looking away once again.

"Spike, she didn't have to" his friend protested, putting a hand on his arm to get his attention "it's just so obvious!"

"Not to me it bloody isn't!" he said, flinching his arm away.

Willow thought for a moment. How could she make him see what was so obvious to her? Maybe there was a way...

"When you were in kindergarten" she started, eventually, "was there a girl that you liked?"

Spike looked at her like she'd just grown another head.

"What the bloody hell has that got to do with anything?" he wanted to know.

"Just answer the question, I have a point I swear" the red-head urged him and with a sigh he gave in.

"Yeah, there was a girl, blonde kid, Darla"

"And you liked her?" Willow checked.

"I just said it, didn't I?" he snapped back and Willow physically jumped.

"Okay..." she drew out "so you liked her, what did you do?"

For a moment Spike looked wistfully thoughtful and a smile crossed his features that had looked so angry a second before.

"Pulled her hair, called her names and nicked her chocolate biscuit at break time usually" he said as if he were proud of it.

"There you go" Willow smiled in triumph, but Spike still didn't get it.

"Er, not following here, pet" he admitted and Willow let out yet another sigh.

"You were mean to her because you liked her" she said as explanation.

"And Buffy...?" Spike started, piecing together the information "Oh" he said in sudden realisation.

"Yes" Willow nodded, relieved to finally be getting somewhere, she never knew getting Spike to understand would be so complicated, but then getting Xander to notice her had been practically impossible so, 'it must be a guy thing' she surmised.

"I know it's childish" Willow admitted as Spike's mind reeled from the shock "cos I mean we're older now and we should technically be more sensible but, Buffy had a rough time with her last boyfriend and being the Slayer puts a strain on all her relationships with everybody, not just guys"

Spike looked over at her, with surprise and a little guilt. He hadn't really considered any of that, he'd just wanted Buffy to care about him like he cared about her. He never thought that she might feel the same and just have trouble showing it

"She lashes out cos it's her way of dealing" Willow said seriously.

"Should've known that I s'pose" the bleach blond admitted "Guilty of striking out when scared myself...not that I get scared a lot" he added too quickly.

"It's okay, Spike" Willow laughed a little "I'm not going to tell anyone anything about you that would 'damage your street rep'" she air-quoted with a grin.

"Y'know Red" he gave her a lop-sided smirk, "You're alright"

"Well, you're not so bad yourself" she told him, smiling back, "Only wish my own love life was as easy to figure out" she added, quietly, but he heard every word.

"I thought things were better with you and Harris?" her friend said, a little confused. Had the two not danced with each other most of Saturday night and then left the club together too? 

"So did I" Willow admitted "and they are, I mean, we danced a lot at the Bronze and he walked me home and it was really sweet" immediately her eyes glazed over and she was in her little fantasy dream world that was all about Xander Harris "Sometimes he looks at me and I think he knows, he knows how much I love him and he feels the same and I'm going to get my fairytale ending..." she sighed, dejectedly, knowing her dreams were not real "but life's not a fairytale and just when I think he might kiss me or tell me he loves me or something romantic, he..."

"Cracks a joke?" Spike guessed.

"Yes!" Willow pointed a finger and yelled.

"Will, he's probably scared" Spike was slightly concerned to realise that himself and the Whelp had something in common, both afraid of some stuff that they feel "You know the Whelp, he can fight demons as good as any of us" he admitted "though don't tell him I said that" he added, quickly, "but demons inside are harder to beat"

"He doesn't need to be scared of me or how he feels about me" Willow protested.

"You were scared about telling him how you feel, why shouldn't he be the same?" came Spike's reply and Willow knew he was right. She smiled somewhat evilly as she had a thought.

"How come you figured all that out but you didn't see that Buffy loves you?"

He smiled, knowing he'd been stupid but that his friend was only teasing him, not meaning to be nasty at all.

"Easier to see when it's not you, I guess" he shrugged.

"Good point" Willow agreed, realising she'd been the same, noticing Buffy and Spike's love-dilemma, but not really understanding her own.

"Looks like we both have stuff to work out with certain people" the red-head sighed yet again, sipping at her soda.

"Yeah..." Spike drew out the word, realising he had a long feelings-related talk to have with the girl he loved, not something he was looking forward to, but something he had a little more confidence in now he was pretty certain Buffy did love him.

"No time like the present" he said more to himself than to Willow, before touching her arm to gain her attention and pointing toward the doors. 

"Look" he said simply and she did, just as the two people they'd been discussing entered the Bronze.

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To Be Continued...


	21. Finally1

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A/N1 : Finally, I think this may be the chapter you've all been waiting for. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for a major Spuffy experience! lol I hope it's as good as you expect it to be, I really enjoyed writing this chapter a lot. 

Thanx so much for all the great reviews - you are all so nice and you say such great things about my fic. To Caitlin, no Angel's not coming into this one, sorry, I have different plans for this fic, thanx for the review. To everyone else who left reviews just a big thankyou cos it means a lot :-) 

Hope you all enjoy this latest chapter, there will be an update again quite soon since I am writing another short chapter that is W/X and that will be 'Finally...(2)'. 

I think I've rambled enough now, here's the new chapter...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

(Extra disclaimer : Couple of lines in this chapter were stolen from episode 6.11 Wrecked and 5.17 Forever - I think that's all - those recognisable lines don't belong to me!) 

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Chapter 21 - Finally... (1)

Around one table in the Bronze, four young people looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Buffy, hi" Spike greeted, ignoring Xander, as usual.

"Hey Will" Buffy said to the red-head, avoiding Spike's gaze.

"Hi" Willow nodded in response to the Slayer "Hey Xander" she smiled a little at her other friend.

"Hi Will" he smiled, ignoring Spike, as usual.

Then there was silence.

"So..." Buffy said eventually, drawing out the word, hoping to have thought of something else to say by the time she'd finished, but she hadn't. Spike had.

"Er, Buffy, don't you need to patrol?" he asked "Because I was thinking I could come along, y'know help out"

"I guess so" she shrugged. She did need to patrol and Spike was pretty useful to have around for the vampire slayage. She was still mad at him but she'd missed him hanging around all day.

"Hey, we could come too..." Xander suggested but Willow drowned him out.

"NO!" she yelled, knowing Spike wanted to get Buffy alone "I mean, no" she said more calmly as all three of her friends looked shocked at her outburst "er, Xander, I kind of need to talk to you" she said as quietly as ever.

"Okay Will, we'll talk" Xander nodded, a little confused.

A silent look passed between Spike and Willow as the bleach blond stood up from his seat. A look that said a thousand things but the main thing was 'good luck'.

"Let's go, Slayer" he urged and with a quick 'see you later' and a small wave to her other to friends, she followed him out of the club.

Spike's notion that he might be able to use the slaying as a good excuse to get Buffy alone to talk was a stupid one when he thought about it and he soon realised his error in judgement. Every time he plucked up the courage to open his mouth and say something clever, a vampire attacked and the fight was on. After this had happened three times Spike was getting agitated.

As the Slayer began to walk off after brushing her latest slayee off of her clothes, he called her name to her, in an attempt to get her to stop and turn back, but she didn't.

"Buffy, pet, I sort of wanted to talk to you" he almost whined, and she stopped, but still would not turn back.

"Save it Spike, I don't want to know" she called over her shoulder, making to walk away again but he was behind her in a second, his hand on her shoulder, pulling her back.

"Well, you're going to!" he protested, truly sick of all the games and mix-ups and lies "I love you, damn it" he yelled, his voice echoing through the graveyard "not a bloody buggerin' thing I can do about it and it's driving me crazy" he complained as he stormed up and down in front of Buffy, who was quite shocked by his outburst. This was the first time she'd heard those three words from a guy since Angel "I know you feel something for me" Spike told her, suddenly all in her face "what with the kissing when I first moved in and then..."

"That was just..." Buffy started but then began to flounder as no plausible excuse came to mind "I don't know what it was" she admitted "but it wasn't love"

"Maybe not" Spike conceded "but you feel something for me Buffy I know you do"

"It's all in your head" she scoffed, waving it away with a gesture of her arm and trying to walk away, but he wasn't finished yet, he had one more piece of ammunition, one thing that couldn't fail him. He didn't need to physically stop her walking away from him, there was another way.

"What did you dream about the night you got drunk Buffy?" he called, causing her to stop dead in her tracks as he knew it would.

"I...I don't remember" she stammered not daring to turn around and face him. She knew she couldn't lie when she looked into those crystal blue eyes of his.

"Well, I bloody do" he told her, all of a sudden right behind her once again "You made it pretty obvious..." 

"That was just the alcohol" she interrupted, turning but keeping her eyes to the ground "and...and..."

"And what?" he demanded to know, getting increasingly annoyed by her determination not to feel anything for him "What are you afraid of Buffy?" he asked, his hands on her arms, dipping his head to see her face, urging her to look at him "What, you afraid I'm gonna...?"

That's as far as he got with his sentence as Buffy made the fatal mistake of looking up into those eyes she'd been trying to avoid. She couldn't hold up the pretence any longer, instead she pushed herself toward him and kissed him all but senseless.

This wasn't like before, they'd kissed before but this was different, that flicker he saw in her eyes just before it happened, he saw the feeling, the love? There wasn't time to wonder as the moment was all to quickly broken.

Buffy felt a strange sensation and it wasn't coming from the kiss. The shiver that went down her spine was not from the wonderment of the kiss as it should have been, it was her Slayer sense warning her of vampires.

By the time she figured it out and pulled herself from Spike's grasp, there were three vamps surrounding them. She kicked two, one after the other, away from herself and the young man beside her, he himself managed to land a punch on the third bringing him down, momentarily.

Kicks and punches flew in all directions until finally Buffy managed to stake two of the enemy. It was as she turned she saw Spike was having more than a little trouble with the third. A female vampire, but a strong one, she had the bleach blond pinned down and was moving in for the bite.

Buffy was upon her in one movement, pulling her off Spike and raining an unnecessary amount of punches on the demons face and body before finally grabbing her stake and plunging it into the heart of her friends attacker.

"You stay away from my boyfriend, you freak!" she practically screamed as the vampires face contorted and quickly exploded into dust, along with the rest of her.

The Slayer moved back toward Spike and helped him up from the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asked, genuine concern in her voice and on her face.

"Just fine, pet.." he smiled slightly "..er, when you...? What did you just...?" he shook his head, wondering if he'd dreamt it and if so how much had been an illusion? The kiss? The vampires? The 'stay away from my boyfriend'? Right then, he wasn't even sure whether he cared or not.

"Spike, you were right" Buffy told him, tears behind her eyes "about everything" she admitted "I do care about you, I do...I think I might...love you"

"Buffy..." he began but she shook her head.

"No let me finish, please" she said, helping him to sit down on a nearby headstone, he'd been pretty shaken up by the vamp attack "I haven't been fair to you" the Slayer said, in a soft quiet voice he'd never heard her use before "I got scared, which is stupid because I fight demons and vampires and stuff all the time and when it comes to relationships I'm petrified" she laughed at herself but her heart wasn't in it, and she stood before Spike looking so small and lost. He smiled as he reached his hand out to touch her face.

"Look, I don't know exactly what happened with that Angel bloke you dated..." he started but again she laughed and interrupted.

"He wasn't a 'bloke'" she explained "he was a vampire"

Shock dawned over Spike's face.

"You dated...but..." he stumbled over his words.

"Thought that might shock you" Buffy said, looking back down at the ground.

"How?" came Spike's one word question.

"He had a soul" Buffy gave as explanation "he helped me, he said he loved me and I think he did" she smiled at the memory of him "but it wasn't meant to be" she added, solemnly.

"What happened?" Spike asked, his vocabulary coming back to him gradually.

"That's not important really" Buffy told him, shaking her head "point is it made me weird about guys and boyfriends and stuff. My relationships with everybody are strained because I'm the Slayer" she turned her back to him as tears spilled from her eyes and her voice cracked "Everyone I get close to, I cause them so much pain"

"What are you going on about?" Spike asked her gently, standing up behind her.

"Don't you see?" she sobbed as she turned around "If I wasn't the Slayer, Willow and Xander would have normal lives, so would you!" her voice got higher and more strained and her tears flowed faster as she continued " Giles never would have left your Mom, you could've had a happy childhood. My Dad left, Angel left...all the bad stuff happens because of me, me being the Slayer" by the end she was practically hysterical and she fell into the bleach blond's arms.

"Hey now, come on. Sssh now Buffy," he comforted her, rubbing circles on her back and kissing the top of her head, "you've got nothing to cry about and certainly nothing to feel guilty about" she pulled back a little to look up at him as he continued "First off I don't know much about your Dad but I don't see how you caused him to leave your Mum, you told me you were just a kid when that happened. Second, I did have a happy childhood" he told her honestly "okay so I was a little late finding dear old Dad" he smiled "but I was just fine with my Mum. As for your friends, they love you and no-one forced them, or me, to help you fight the good fight, we all chose to do it because we want to"

She sniffed and smiled a little.

"You make it sound so simple" she said quietly "and...better, somehow. I never thought of you as the optimistic type"

He laughed at that.

"Can't say as I did either, pet" he turned serious very quickly and his voice became softer as he continued "but I've changed, since I came here" he looked into her eyes "since I met you"

She glanced away from his gaze.

"You sure it's not meeting your father that's changed you?"

"Giles is a decent bloke" Spike admitted "he makes my Mum happy and I reckon as father's go he'll be just dandy..." again he turned deadly serious as he caught her gaze again "but I've changed because of you Buffy, because I fell in love with you"

"Oh Spike, I love you too" Buffy finally admitted, all the emotion of the night taking over "Just now when that vampire..." she couldn't even say it "oh God I thought...I couldn't bear to lose you" she went further into his embrace and hugged him tight and began to cry again.

"Hey, come on" he smiled, despite her tears. She'd finally said what he'd been waiting to hear. "You didn't lose me, I'm right here" he comforted her "I'll always be right here. Hey," he grinned, pulling back to see her face "if I'd have known a near death experience was all it took to get you to see sense I'd have thrown myself to the vamps a long time ago"

"Spike, that's not funny" she said seriously, pulling away from him.

"Sorry, luv" he said, looking toward the ground, he was turning into Harris, making jokes at important moments "but seriously, I'll be here as long as you want me to be" he promised her.

She smiled at that and went back into his arms again.

"How about forever?" she suggested "Does forever sound good to you?"

"Sounds just perfect to me" he said in a whisper, before their lips met again, in a real kiss of true love.

__

To Be Continued...

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A/N2 : I could end it there, a happy ever after Spuffy-type ending, but I think it's only fair that I sort out Willow and Xander too, and tie up a few other lose ends before we reach the end of this story, so you can expect a few more chapters yet. In the meantime, reviewing would be of the good ;-)


	22. Finally2

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A/N 1 : So glad everyone seemed to approve of my big Spuffy chapter! I really enjoyed writing it and I'm really pleased that you all enjoyed reading it. Here is a shorter chapter to get Willow and Xander together because I think that they belong with each other...what do you think?

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 22 - Finally... (2)

"So..." Xander drew out the word, glancing between the red-head beside him and the table he was sitting at.

"So..." Willow said in a similar way, looking more at the table than the guy she was talking to.

"You wanted to talk to me Will" Xander prompted "and now you're all like 'quiet-as-a-mouse girl'. What's the deal?" he asked, trying to see her face as she kept her head down.

"Well..." she began, unsure how to say all that she wanted too.

"Come on Will, 'fess up" Xander urged "You know you can tell me anything, we're best buds" he grinned, giving her a friendly shove with his elbow.

"Well maybe I'm tired of being your 'best bud' Xander" she suddenly snapped, and her friend looked quite taken aback as she pulled herself up in her seat and looked straight at him "I'm a gir...a woman, God dammit" she amended "and I wanna be treated like one! I want you to notice me and I want.."

"I do notice you Will and I think you're incredible" Xander told her honestly, but now in full flow Willow barely heard him.

"No, let me finish, I want..." she continued before his words finally sunk in "hold on, what did you just say?"

"I said I do notice you, and you're incredible" he repeated, smiling warmly at her and making her face heat up.

"Oh" was all she could manage to say as she went red as her hair, her focus going straight back to the table top where she considered it safest to look. Her hands fidgeted on the table in front of her until another hand came across and landed on top of them.

"Willow" Xander gained her attention again "we've been best friends since kindergarten, so, when we got older, well, it took me a while to notice that, hey, you're a girl" he laughed at himself more than anything else, at just how blind he'd really been.

"Why?" Willow asked in earnest "You always seemed to notice Buffy was a girl"

"No, no, now you see you have it all wrong!" the brunette shook his head in protest "I hung around Buffy when we were kids cos she was tough, the makings of a little Slayer and all, I guess, she was good for protection" he admitted "not that I didn't like her as a person too, cos I did" he defended himself "I did and I do..okay, I'm babbling again" he inwardly cursed himself for being his usual idiot self but Willow, as usual, just thought it was cute.

"Yes, you are babbling" she agreed with a smile "like a brook, actually...but Buffy" she said seriously "you look at her, I've seen you, y'know that way that guys look at girls...y'know, and you seem really jealous of Spike" she looked like she might cry and Xander hated to see it, hated to know he'd caused her to feel so bad when he cared for her so much.

"Okay, I'm not jealous of Spike" he assured her "not that way, I just want to protect my friend from a potential heart-breaker and the guy is just annoying" Xander sneered a little before getting back to the point "And the other stuff is just a physical thing, Will. I don't know how, but Buffy came back from visiting her Dad in LA one summer and she was just like totally babealicious..." he closed his eyes in horror "and please don't ever let me use that hideous word again" Willow nodded, assuring him she wouldn't let him and he continued "but I was never 'in love' with Buffy, she's just fun to drool on" he grinned in the way that only he could.

"And I'm not?" Willow looked a little hurt, and pulled her hand from his.

"Yes, no, I mean..." Xander sighed on frustration "y'know I'm pretty sure this is a trick question cos whichever way I answer it's gonna come out offensive and you're gonna get mad at me"

"I can't ever get really mad at you Xander..." she told him and off the face he made she amended "okay so maybe occasionally, but...I still love you, I..I'm in love with you" she finally said it out loud and then looked away immediately "and I know you'll never feel that kind of love for me but..."

The red-heads possible ramble was abruptly cut off as her lips were no longer free to move. Xander's own lips were upon hers and he was kissing her in a way she couldn't have dreamt of if she'd tried - it was simply incredible. When they finally came up for air the girl that usually had all the vocabulary on the tip of her tongue could only find one fairly unintelligent word.

"Wow"

"Yeah" Xander breathed.

Finally feeling she had her bearings back and both enough oxygen and words to form a sentence, Willow opened her mouth to speak.

"Why did you...?" she began before shaking her head "Actually, I don't think I care" she decided, before putting her hand up behind Xander's head and pulling him into another passionate kiss.

A while later when more oxygen was needed on both sides, Xander had a chance to answer the question he knew was in Willow's head, even if she said she didn't care about the answer.

"Because you gave me the courage, like you always do" he told her "I've wanted to do that for sooo long"

"Me too" she giggled.

"Truth is" Xander said, picking Willow's hand up from the table once again "I'm in love with you too, Will" he looked into her eyes as he continued "I think I have been for a long time now, and I know I always will be"

The smile on the witch's face couldn't have got any wider if she'd have tried to make it so, those words were all she ever wanted to hear and now she'd heard them.

"Enough words now" she said with a shy smile.

"Yeah" her 'boyfriend' agreed with a nod, before the kissing resumed once again.

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To Be Continued...

A/N2: Everyone seems happy now, but will it last? Few more chapters yet, including much W/X and Spuffy! Hope you continue to enjoy the story and don't forget to review please ;-)


	23. Happy Together

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A/N : Not sure how interesting you'll find this chappy but I like it and there is a point to it, I promise, plus some Spuffy and W/X and Spike & Xander fighting like they do, lol. After this, if everything goes to plan, they'll be three or four more chapters to the end of the story. Thanx to everyone who reviewed - you guys are all just the best :-) Hope you like this chapter too, and hope you review ;-) [And you'll be pleased to know, no big cliffhanger on this chapter...]

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 23 - Happy Together

As his alarm clock beeped into life, for once Spike decided he didn't care. He was actually looking forward to school this morning, he was looking forward to the whole day, because he knew he got to spend most of it with Buffy, the girl he could now call his girlfriend.

He got up, got dressed, and noticed the stupid grin on his own face as he did his hair in the bathroom mirror. Part of him thought what an idiot he was being, how pathetic his love-sick behaviour was, but he really loved the Slayer, in a way he never knew he could love anybody and he just didn't care if he acted a little odd or looked ridiculous, because he had Buffy and that was all that mattered.

Picking up his bag, he left his room and headed for the stairs, practically running all the way down and to the kitchen. He was less eager to be there when he saw what was happening within.

His entrance and attempt to exit did not go unnoticed despite the fact that his mother and father appeared to be glued together at the lips.

"Oh, Will, please, come back" he heard his Mum call as he turned.

"Should I just come in blindfolded to save everyone's embarrassment" he smirked.

"Will, please, this is serious" Jessica told him, siting down on a stool by the counter as Giles did the same.

"So am I" Spike nodded, also taking a seat now.

Jessica just ignored his final comment as she glanced at Giles then back at her son.

"Now you know Rupert and I have been getting...reacquainted" she began and Spike couldn't resist his next comment.

"Is that what they call it these days?" he asked, the smirk reappearing on his face all too easily "Sorry" he added quickly when he got twin disapproving looks.

"Anyway" Jessica continued "he is your father and I still love him very much and..." she faltered, "well...we're getting married" she announced, showing off a rather impressive looking diamond on her hand.

Spike was silent.

"If that's agreeable to you of course" Giles immediately started to ramble "I mean, I don't expect you to be joyous about this, I'm sure it's quite a shock and of course you are accustomed to it just being you and your mother, but I do hope you can accept that I love Jessica very much and I care for you too, and I would like us to have some sort of ,er, bond, if you like..."

"You make her happy" Spike said suddenly, cutting his father off mid-ramble "and that makes me happy" he paused before continuing "and I kind of like having you around,...Dad"

The final word made for a somewhat stunned yet elated set of parents as he knew it probably would, but what he'd said had been true, every word.

"Now, I'm gonna let you two have some 'alone time' now" Spike smiled as he got up from his seat, grabbed a piece of toast from the counter and headed off to meet Buffy for the walk to school. At the very thought of her he felt like he was walking a foot off of the floor and thinking about last night he decided was probably dangerous for his heart rate. They had patrolled for hours, although there was a lot more kissing than staking, if he was honest. As he thought about it he realised he had a lot to thank Willow for really and that started him wondering, how had things gone for her last night? He'd have to make sure he found time to tear himself away from Buffy for five minutes for a chat with Red.

"Good morning Spike" Joyce smiled as she opened the front door, "Buffy's just.."

"I'm here!" came a loud voice from the top of the stairs, quickly followed by the owner of the voice at lightening speed.

"Hi" Spike smiled as Buffy made it to the front door, her jacket half on, half off and her bag hanging from her arm with books threatening to spill everywhere.

"Hey" she smiled back before turning to her mother, "I have to go"

"What's the rush to get to school?" Mrs Summers wondered aloud as her eldest daughter kissed her cheek and made for the door.

"Y'know, school" Buffy said as if it were obvious, "Gotta love the learning" she smiled and laughed like a mad person and Joyce just nodded, said goodbye and closed the door. Spike laughed.

"What was all that about?"

"Nothing" she lied, unconvincingly, and the look on his face let her know he wasn't buying it.

"Okay, okay" she said, pulling her jacket on straighter and dealing with her bag, "Maybe, I was just wanting to see you this morning, maybe"

Spike was obviously flattered, but also somewhat embarrassed and amused too.

"Well, maybe I wanted to see you too, maybe" he teased and she hit him playfully on the arm. He grabbed her hand as she did so and pulled her into his arms, raining kisses onto her face.

"Not that I want you to stop" Buffy smiled between kisses, but we have to get to school".

Spike conceded that she was right and they went back to walking, hand in hand.

"Oh, I s'pose I should tell you about Mum and Giles" Spike suddenly realised, "They're engaged"

"Seriously?" Buffy gasped, "Wow, that's like a major deal. Are you okay with that?" she asked him, "I mean, I know he's your Dad but you haven't known him long"

"I like the bloke" Spike assured her, "and Mum loves him, and he loves her, that much is obvious...yes, I'm happy about it"

Buffy looked over at him, walking beside her, she knew the smile on his face was genuine, that he really was happy and she was glad. She noticed something else too.

"Hey, are you wearing a blue T-shirt?"

"Yeah" Spike nodded, glancing down at said T-shirt beneath the black leather of his jacket "why'd you ask?"

"But you don't wear colours" Buffy said suspiciously and Spike smiled at the strange look on her face.

"Just didn't feel like being all black today" he shrugged, slipping an arm around her shoulders as they walked "Probably your doing, pet" he told her, squeezing her momentarily.

"I make you feel...colourful?" she said with a lop-sided smile, unsure whether that was a good thing or not.

"You make me feel a million different things, Slayer" he told her, looking down into her eyes "and I love every one of them, because I love you" he concluded, leaning down and kissing her on the lips briefly.

"Wow" she smiled "how did I not notice you were so sweet before now?"

"Sweet?" he exclaimed, pulling away from her "Here, you take that back!" he said horrified "God, you'll have people thinking I'm some sort of poofter"

Buffy could only laugh at the look of shock and disgust on his face.

"You are not a poofter" she insisted "whatever it means" she added quietly "but you are very sweet to me" she said carefully, moving toward him again and encouraging him to put his arm back around her and walk with her again, "You're sweet and kind and sexy and wonderful...and did I mention sexy?" she smiled, mischievously as they reached the school gates.

"Only want me for my body, eh Slayer?" Spike smirked in response.

"No..." she replied looking almost shy "but I'm too polite to decline an offer" she continued, the mischievous twinkle returning to her eyes. She reached up to kiss him and he wasn't at all adverse to the idea but...

"Buffy!" came a very loud interruption in the form of Willow.

"Bloody hell" Spike cursed as Buffy moved away a little.

"Spike..." she scolded his tone as well as his words just as their friends arrived beside them "hey, Will, Xan" Buffy greeted, glancing downward "ooh, with the hand holdage" she practically squealed as she pointed at her friends entwined fingers.

"Guilty as charged" Xander smiled, lifting his hand and Willow's up as if to emphasise the point "but I see it's contagious" he gestured toward his friend and Spike, whose hands had found each other too.

"Oh yeah" Buffy smiled, happy for herself and her friends alike.

Unfortunately though, this was school and not the happy-love club and the ringing of the bell meant that some people had classes to get to.

"Oh damn" Spike said annoyed at the interruption "I gotta go, pet, but I'll see you later?" he checked, turning his back on Willow and Xander as he faced his girlfriend.

"Definitely" she told him, and there was an all too brief kiss before Spike disappeared into the crowds of students.

"I have to go to" Xander admitted "See ya later sweetie" he said, turning to Willow and kissing her cheek.

"Sure" she smiled as he too disappeared amongst the student population of Sunnydale High.

The two girls stood side by side as the crowds dispersed, thinking of the two guys they loved and stupidly missing them already despite their departing only thirty seconds ago. They unconsciously sighed in unison, which caused them to giggle afterwards. Linking arms, Buffy and Willow walked into the building chatting.

"So, I guess things went well with you and Xander last night" said the blonde.

"Better than just 'went well'" Willow admitted "oh Buffy, it was amazing" she gushed, which was not something the witch usually did.

"I want details" Buffy demanded.

"And you'll get them" Willow promised "but you have to share too, about you and Spike" she smiled "I knew you two were perfect for each other"

"You knew?" Buffy asked, somewhat surprised "Why didn't I see it?" she frowned.

"Love is blind" Willow sighed, it was so true.

"I guess" her friend agreed "but it's pretty rampant lately, Giles and Jessica are engaged"

"Oh that's great" the red-head exclaimed, over-excitedly "We should head to the library later and congratulate him"

"Yeah" Buffy nodded in agreement, it would be cool knowing Giles would be right next door should she need him, and Jessica and Spike would be so happy with him, she knew.

"But first" she said, turning to Willow "spill about last night" she demanded as she returned from the bright looking future to the also bright present.

"Well..."

Meanwhile, Xander had caught up with a certain bleach blond on the way to math class and an uncomfortable silence had ensued after the initial greetings.

"So" Xander tried to make conversation "you and Buffy"

"Yeah" Spike nodded "and you and Red"

"Yeah..." Xander nodded too "took your time" he pointed out.

"I did?" Spike practically yelled, incredulously "What about you?"

"Good point..." the brunette was forced to admit, before adding, perfectly seriously "I still dislike you a lot"

"Hate you too" Spike agreed, equally straight faced.

"Okay, but we should maybe be civil for the girls sake?" Xander suggested as they got to class and sat down next to each other.

"Agreed" Spike conceded "Truce?" he offered, holding out a hand.

"Let's call it a semi-truce" the boy beside him decided, shaking the offered hand "no manly-fighty stuff around Will and the Buffster"

Spike snorted with laughter.

"You? Manly?" he smirked in disbelief.

"Hey, none of that!" the brunette complained with a whine "We just agreed" 

"Well" Spike considered "the girls aren't here right now"

Xander glanced around the room, despite the fact he knew Buffy and Willow weren't going to be there.

"Good point" he nodded "now, about your stupid hair..."

Spike just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the Whelp as class began.

__

To Be Continued...


	24. The Truth's Out

****

A/N : Usually I update this fic and my other fic alternately but I just felt like writing more of this story first. Thanx to everyone who reviewed, as always I appreciate it a lot. Here's the latest chapter, hope you like it and I apologise in advance for the cliffhanger ending, I know how much it annoys you all, but I promise to update again as soon as possible.

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 24 - The Truth's Out

The day ran smoothly for the Scooby gang. It was filled with the normal classes, talking, studying and messing around, along with the not quite so normal, but very enjoyable, kissing sessions.

As planned all four of them made time to visit the library to see Giles and wish him well in his engagement to Jessica. Apparently, the wedding would be in a few months and then Giles would move in with his ready made family. Spike seemed happy, Giles seemed happy, her friends seemed happy - that was all Buffy noticed and all she cared about, and the fact she was happy too? A great little bonus.

The only thing that had her wondering, a little uncomfortably actually, was what Spike and Willow were saying to each other behind that book shelf...

"Hey Red" Spike greeted his friend, causing her to jump as she hadn't known he was there.

"Spike, you okay?" she asked as she turned from the books she was looking at to face him.

"Yeah" he nodded "I just wanted to say thanks for last night"

"Well, I didn't really do anything" Willow smiled, going back to the book shelf.

"But you did" the bleach blond persisted "more than you know. Thing is, I never really had friends" he said somewhat sadly, studying his boots and the floor in front of him, "actually, don't tell anyone this but I've only had one real girlfriend, and that relationship went to hell" he paused before continuing slightly less sadly "anyway, if you hadn't put me straight on a few things yesterday, I might have given up, and I wouldn't have the amazing girlfriend that I have now" he smiled as he looked past the book shelf at the blonde in question, Buffy, his Slayer.

"You would have been with her" Willow told him "maybe not now but eventually, you're just made for each other"

"Like you and the Wh...Xander" Spike amended, remembering his semi-truce with Xander and really not wanting to upset his witch friend by insulting her bloke.

"Yeah, well, I hope so" she smiled, looking over at the brunette she loved so much.

"Trust me Will" Spike said seriously, placing his hand on her arm "you two are for life"

That made her smile too. It was only when Spike moved to walk away that she realised something...

"Hey" she called "you just called me Will, not Red" 

"So I did" Spike realised as he replayed his words in his own head "guess I should get used to it too, calling you by your proper name, I have to learn to call Xander by his apparently" he mumbled the last past with a certain amount of disgust.

"Yes you do" Willow told him as sternly as she could manage before a shy grin took over "but you can call me Red if you want too, makes me sound special"

"You are special" she was a little surprised to hear the young man beside her say "you're a real friend and like I told you I haven't had many of those"

The pair of friends shared a warm smile, before Willow spoke again.

"Well, you and me and Xander and Buffy will be best friends forever" she said with a nod of certainty.

"You can't know that for certain" Spike shook his head at her too perfect view of life.

"No, I can't" the red-head admitted "but I feel it, y'know? Like a force of good versus all the evil that is Sunnydale and the Hellmouth"

There was a moments silence as Spike considered what she'd said, and with another glance over at Buffy he understood exactly.

"Yeah" he nodded with a smile fixed firmly on his lips "Yeah, I think I know what you mean"

Everyone was much too happily in love to pay much attention to anything demon-related, and luckily there was nothing major spilling out of the Hellmouth at that time. Giles took the decline in evil activity to cross reference the latest books he had added to his collection and Buffy wasn't exactly sorry to be able to skip training and instead wander home from school with Spike, without his father, her Watcher, as a chaperone.

There was a final lingering kiss on the path outside the two young people's houses, before Buffy said she absolutely had to go inside, before her sister spotted them and made a big deal out of it.

"Will I see you tonight?" Spike asked her, as she began to move away.

"Since Xand and Will are having their first real date tonight, you can help me patrol" she told him, "Seven thirty?" she suggested.

"Sure, pet" he smiled, "I'll be there"

She smiled and gave a small wave as she headed into the house and he did the same.

At seven twenty nine there was a knock on the front door of 1630 Revello Drive and Buffy rushed to answer it, knowing who it would be.

"I'm going out with Spike, Mom!" she called.

"Where exactly?" Joyce wanted to know as she followed her daughter toward the door.

"The Bronze" Buffy quickly lied and as she nodded her head, Buffy knew her mother had bought it.

"Don't be too late" Joyce warned as Buffy practically threw herself out of the house, the only answer to Mrs Summers words being the slamming of the front door.

"Hey Spike" Buffy smiled widely at her patrolling partner and boyfriend, standing just inches in front of him.

"Hey there Slayer" he murmured, pulling her into his arms and kissing her like he'd never stop. When they finally broke for air, he explained why.

"I missed you"

Buffy laughed at that.

"Spike you saw me less than five hours ago" she said as they began walking towards the nearest cemetery, "but" she admitted, "I did miss you too"

They smiled like idiots in love which they more or less were before Buffy realised something was wrong. The bag on her shoulder was too light, it should be full of weapons for the slayage and weighing her down, but it wasn't.

"Oh God" she exclaimed, "I left my bag open" she realised, "I've probably been dropping stakes and holy water all the way from home to here"

"How did we not notice?" Spike wondered aloud.

"I think our concentration was kind of not on the vampire and the weapons, more on each other" Buffy exclaimed with a smile, "not that you're a bad thing to concentrate on but we can't do much good slaying like this"

"True" Spike conceded, "Let's head back and pick up what we've lost"

"Sounds like a plan Buffy agreed as they took the path back the way they came, scouring the ground in the darkness for lost demon-fighting weaponry.

At he same time, Joyce had decided to visit Jessica and Giles. Buffy had told her about the pairs engagement and she was pleased for her friends. She left Dawn in the house playing CDs and slipped next door for a few minutes. The happy couple were clearly pre-occupied when Mrs Summers came over as Giles' shirt was unbuttoned when he answered the door and Jessica looked decidedly dishevelled when she joined him.

Joyce stayed on the doorstep just long enough to say congratulations and to apologise for disturbing whatever they were doing - as if she didn't know what that was!

Unfortunately, she was there just long enough to make a difference. As Spike and Buffy moved back towards their homes, picking up the last of the weapons the Slayer had inadvertently dropped, they disturbed a vampire who had ventured too far from the graveyard - a mistake that would be fatal.

"Buffy, vampire" Spike alerted her as she bent to pick up the final stake. She dropped the bag off her shoulder and held the weapon in her hand ready for attack.

"Spike, grab the bag" she ordered, "I'll deal with him" she gestured to the vamp with a tilt of her head before lunging in it's direction. She was a little surprised when, instead of fighting her, the vampire just ran, but then it was probably just a fledgling and the Slayer would be scary to him.

Buffy thought nothing of where she was chasing the demon to, but Spike had noticed and frantically he went after her, not as quickly as he would have liked since the bag on his shoulder was weighing him down. If she slayed that vamp outside their houses and someone saw...

"Got you now" Buffy told the vamp as it trapped himself between two trees and the Slayer. "Say goodnight" she quipped, shoving her stake through the unbeating heart of the creature and watching it's horrified face turn to dust along with every other apart of it.

"Buffy!" Spike called to her, and she turned expecting to see him smiling, proud of his girlfriend ability to kill the undead single handedly, but that wasn't what she saw. He looked pained and decidedly out of breath as he gestured near his front door.

Buffy was now only too aware of where she was and who had just watched he display of Slayer skills. Giles, Jessica - not a problem, but there was another person there too, looking equal parts shocked and confused and horrified.

"Buffy...what, I mean how and..." Joyce rambled incoherently.

The Slayer took a deep breath and bit the bullet as she knew she had to.

"Mom" she said slowly "I'm a Vampire Slayer"

_To Be Continued..._


	25. Family Values

****

A/N : Hey, I'm glad some people are still reading this. This story and my other Spuffy fic are two of my longest ever, even though they are quite short compared to some authors stories. Anyway, after this chapter there's just one more chapter and the epilogue which I will try to get done very soon (lots of sweet Spuffy planned, especially in the epilogue!) but I really want to get the end of Always Remember - I Love You written first (lots of Spuffy there too!). Enough rambling now, here's the next chapter...oh, btw - reviews very welcome!!!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 25 - Family Values

"Mom I'm a vampire Slayer"

"Oh my..." was all the words Joyce managed before she passed out, thankfully, straight into the arms of Giles. Jessica helped her fiancé to half carry, half drag their neighbour into her own house, which Buffy hurriedly opened the door of. Almost as soon as the woman was deposited on the couch she started to stir.

"I can't believe you never told her you're the Slayer" Jessica exclaimed, standing with Giles one side of her, Spike the other while Buffy knelt by her mother.

"There was a never a good time" the girl made her excuse just as she noticed her sister come into the room from the kitchen.

"You're a what?!" she asked with shock, she'd obviously heard what Jessica had said.

"Dawnie, please, stay out of this" Buffy urged, helping her semi-conscious mother to sit up a little more.

"Mom! What's going on?" the younger Summers demanded to know as she hurried to her Mom's side.

"I'm not sure dear" Joyce admitted, turning on the sofa and patting the spot next to her "Come sit here, maybe Buffy can explain" 

Dawn did as she was told as Buffy stood up and took a deep breath.

"Okay, from the top" she sighed, turning briefly to look at the three people just behind her "and maybe you guys could help me out a little" she pleaded, knowing how difficult this was going to be "Mom, vampires and demons are real, and I'm the one who kills them and I'm called the Slayer" she explained as simply and clearly a she could.

"How many Slayers are there?" Joyce asked with a frown as she glanced at the other inhabitants of her living room.

"Oh, only one" Giles jumped in feet first and in complete Watcher mode "You see, to every generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the would with the strength and skill to fight..."

"Dad" Spike interrupted with a sigh "you're not helping" he told him as he saw the confusion of Joyce's face seemingly increase with every word hid father uttered.

"Giles, I..." Buffy started before turning to her boyfriend "wait a second, did you just call him Dad?"

Spike smirked at that, he hadn't really noticed that he'd done it himself.

"Well he is my father, isn't he?" the boy shrugged, with a glance to the man in question "'Sides with him and Mom getting hitched I figured it made sense"

"Buffy..." Joyce tried to get her daughters attention back to her, she needed some more explanation, she was so confused and bewildered by all this.

"Oh, Mom, yeah" Buffy shook her head to clear all other thoughts as she turned back to her mother "so, I'm the Slayer and I kill vampires and sometimes other demons too" the Slayer waited for her mothers reaction to the bizarre news she was giving her.

"Like the...thing out there" Mrs Summers gestured out of the window to where she'd seen what was apparently a demon of some kind?

"Yeah, pretty much" Buffy nodded that it was true. She was quite surprised that her mother wasn't more angry or less calm about all this, but she was glad too.

"And, and you all knew about this" Joyce asked the family in her living room, "and I didn't...oh my, I must be a terrible mother" she shrieked, covering her face with her hands.

"Mom, you're really not" Buffy promised her.

"But school teachers and your friends and the neighbours know more about you than I do" Joyce protested, looking as if she might cry or go hysterical or both at any moment.

"That's not true, Mom" her daughter tried to explain "well, maybe it is true" she conceded "but Mr Giles knows because he's my Watcher. You see, a Slayer slays and a Watcher..."

"Watches?" Joyce guessed, just as her daughter once had.

"NO" Giles yelled indignantly "I train the Slayer, er, Buffy, to fight the demons"

"Yeah, and Jessica and Spike know about Slayers and Watchers and everything cos they're Giles's family" the eldest Summers tried to make her life sound less of a lie than it was, hoping still that this was as bad as it would get, that her mother was not going to crazy about this, although she couldn't really blame her if she did.

"But we're your family Buffy" Joyce sounded more hurt than anything else now.

"Yeah" Dawn agreed, simply to cause more trouble, her sister had no doubt about that.

"I know" Buffy told her mother, ignoring Dawn, "and I wanted to tell you it was just...hard"

The look on her daughters face and in her eyes most especially told Joyce that Buffy was telling the truth and that it had been painful for her having to hide this secret and that she only did it because she felt she had to.

"Well, at least no-one else found out before me..." she smiled, a little, but frowned again when Buffy looked away "did they?" she wondered aloud.

"Well, Cordy knows" the Slayer admitted "and Willow, and Xander" she all but whispered "but that's all, I swear" she hurriedly added.

"Oh, this is a lot to take in" Joyce sighed, trying not to pass out again.

"You got that right" the fourteen year old at her side snapped "Maybe they're all just crazy?"

"Zip it, Dawn" Buffy said sternly, causing her sister to fold her arms over her chest and look daggers at her.

"Don't talk to me like that" she yelled "just cos you're some dumb Slayer"

Before Buffy went off at the deep end, as he knew she would, Spike stepped in.

"It's not dumb Little Bit" he told the youngest Summers "your sis here has saved a whole load of people doing what she does"

"With your help" Buffy looked up at him and smiled appreciatively for all he'd done and for what he was trying to do now.

"Only research though" Giles was quick to throw in "Spike doesn't fight vampires..." he trailed off when he saw the look on his sons face. Jessica saw it too.

"William Rupert Hart you tell me what that look is for!" she demanded, causing a giggle from Dawn who echoed the middle name that was so amusing. Buffy had to stifle a laugh herself.

"Well maybe I helped once" Spike admitted "or twice" he shrugged "per week" his voice got quieter as he continued "or more, maybe"

"I don't believe this!" Jessica exploded.

"You're not the only one" Joyce agreed and both Buffy and Spike wished the floor would swallow them whole, or even better if they could just rewind the tape and play last night again instead of tonight.

"Look, honestly, it's okay" Buffy announced to the room, standing up in the centre of everyone and silently demanding their attention "I would never put Spike or anyone else in danger" she promised "I can handle myself, being the Slayer and all, and y'know he hasn't been fighting vamps for long but Spike's learnt real fast and he's a real member of the gang"

"Gang? There's a gang?" Joyce, who was starting to feel better about the situation during Buffy's little speech went straight back into full panic mode at the word 'gang'.

"Buffy's in trouble! Buffy's in trouble!" Dawn sang with delight causing a stern look from both her mother and sister.

"Perhaps we should go" Giles realised, as he began to feel increasingly uncomfortable "give you some time" he said quietly, ushering his fiancée and son toward the front door.

"Dawnie why don't you walk across the street to your friend Janice's for a while" Joyce suggested, realising it was time she and Buffy had a long talk.

"I can't" the brunette said happily "she's out, besides, I wanna stay"

Both Joyce and Buffy looked annoyed by this although neither had another explanation. Giles and Jessica were out of the front door by now but Spike just heard what was said and came back into the room.

"How about you come to our place Little Bit" he suggested "I kind of need to talk to you anyway"

"You do?" Dawn exclaimed her eyes wide and happy at the prospect of talking alone with Spike "I mean, okay, yeah, let's go" she rambled, jumping to her feet and practically running out of the door with him following behind her, smiling proudly that he had saved Buffy for once instead of the other way around.

The two young people, the Slayer and her boyfriend, shared a smile as he left and Buffy brought her attention back to her mother.

"Does she...?" Joyce began but her daughter knew what she was going to say.

"Have a crush on Spike?" she finished for her "Totally"

_To Be Continued..._ **__**


	26. Talking It Out

****

A/N : Hey everyone. Well, here it is the final chapter and the epilogue of my first multi-chaptered Buffy fic (I actually started his one before Always Remember - I Love You). Thanx to everyone who has reviewed one or all of the past 25 chapters - I appreciate all your kind words. Hope you like the Spuffy ending, I really enjoyed writing this whole story, especially the end :-)

(For disclaimer, etc - see chapter 1)

Chapter 26 - Talking It Out

At 1630 Revello Drive, Joyce Summers and her daughter Buffy were having a serious mother-daughter talk, but this wasn't your average chat between mother and teenager. They were discussing Buffy being a Vampire Slayer. For this conversation to go as smoothly as possible, it had been necessary to remove Buffy's sister Dawn from the mix, and that's where Spike had stepped in. And so next door, Spike and Dawn sat in his room, both cross legged on the bed, having a talk that was almost just as serious, especially to the girl involved.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" she asked, smiling in a way she thought was grown up and womanly.

"Well, the thing is Dawn..." Spike began "I like you"

Well that was his first mistake since she took it completely the wrong way, flushing red and sounding completely over excited when she asked;

"Really?"

"Yeah" he smiled, not realising she'd taken it in a different way to that which he meant it "you're like the little sister I never had" he said honestly and the smile dropped completely from her face.

"Oh, little sister, great" she mumbled, dejectedly.

"And y'see" Spike continued "I like your sister too, I love her actually and..."

"Y'know what?" Dawn cut him off as she got to her feet "I so don't need to hear this right now, or ever actually"

"Oh come on Dawnie" he called to her as she reached the door "I thought you were a grown up?"

"I am" she retorted, spinning on her heel to face him again.

"Then hear me out, okay?" he said with an almost pleading smile. Part of him wanted her to stay because he really did want her to hear him out, the other part knew he had to keep her there for Buffy and Joyce's sake.

"Okay" the now slightly grumpy teen conceded, repositioning herself on the bed, legs crossed, as before.

"Well, thing is, I want us to be friends, Bit" Spike told her honestly "even if me and your sister are sort of 'dating'" he said for lack of a better word "Is that okay?"

"She won't like you being friends with me" Dawn told him with a sulky expression to match her tone of voice.

"Well, she'll just have to, won't she?" he smiled and Dawn liked the sound of that, she smiled a little too.

There was a few moments silence before the girl asked her next question.

"Why didn't she trust me enough to tell me she was this Slayer person?" she wanted to know. Spike sighed.

"It's not that she didn't trust you, pet" he promised her "she just wanted to keep you safe. I did too" he admitted, only realising as he said it how true it was "Don't want some nasty making a snack of my favourite under sixteen, do I?" he smirked that smirk that was all his own and she giggled.

"Guess not" she agreed, starting to think maybe if she was too young for him to be her boyfriend, maybe they could be just friends, good friends, and she'd be just as happy with that.

"Y'know what Spike?" she smiled "You're cool" 

"So they tell me" he replied modestly.

"I hope when I'm older I end up dating a great guy like you" she blushed when she said 'dating' and 'you' in the same sentence and she ducked her head to hide her red face behind her hair.

Spike smiled at her compliment as well as her embarrassment, reaching out a hand to lift her chin.

"They'll be queued up around the block for you, luv" he assured her "But if any of them screw up they'll have me to deal with" he said, seriously as ever.

Dawn smiled and nodded.

"I think I can live with you being older-brother-guy" she told him and with that she flung herself at him, hugging him tight. He was surprised, shocked even, but pleasantly so. He did like this girl, as a little sister type of course. She had no father to speak of these days, and he would enjoy playing older brother for her when she needed him.

"I should go now" she said as she pulled away from him and hopped off the bed.

"Alright luv" Spike let her go, hoping he'd given the other two Summers women time to talk out their issues "but go easy on big sis, okay?" he added as she left the room "She has a rough time of it"

"Okay" Dawn promised she would, because she'd do anything that her 'big brother' asked of her.

At the same time these two, almost-siblings, were having their little talk, Dawn's real sister was in a nice and uncomfortable conversation with her mother.

"I can't believe all this" Joyce gasped, now sitting up on the sofa, clutching her head that was spinning faster all the time "I mean, how did I not notice?"

"I guess I'm a pretty good secret keeper" Buffy said, quietly, seated beside her mother, hardly daring to look at her.

"So, Mr Giles and Jessica and William and your friends - they all know?" Mrs Summer checked she understood.

"Yes" Buffy nodded once.

"But no-one else, right?" Joyce asked next.

"No, no-one else" Buffy assured her "and it has to stay that way" she added hastily, suddenly aware she hadn't pointed that out before.

"Of course" her mother almost laughed, "I wouldn't know how to explain this to anyone anyway"

The front door opening and closing again stopped Buffy from saying anything and soon her sister appeared in the room.

"Hey, I talked to Spike" the youngest Summers told her sister "I'm sorry if I was off with you Buffy, about the whole Slayer deal. I guess it's kind of cool actually" she smiled a little as she shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

"I guess" Buffy smiled back at her sister who, as much as she annoyed her, she loved very much and was glad she could deal with the Slayer thing. Plus Buffy was ever grateful to Spike for whatever he said to Dawn to make her so reasonable.

"I'm gonna get to bed now" the brunette Summers smiled, kissing her mothers cheek and smiling at her sister "goodnight"

As the girl disappeared up the stairs Joyce checked the clock and realised why her daughter had chosen to sleep now.

"It is getting late" she realised.

"Yeah, I really should patrol" Buffy blurted out without thinking.

"Patrol?" Joyce echoed, confused yet again.

"Yeah" the blonde girl nodded "I search the graveyards and cemeteries and other dark and nasty places and kill any demons or vampires that I find"

"Oh" Joyce sighed "is it...?"

"Safe?" Buffy completed her question for her since she knew exactly what was coming "It's okay Mom" she assured her "I've been doing it for years"

"Years" Joyce got a further shock then "but how...?"

"Window" her daughter said simply.

"Oh" was the only reply Joyce could give and she felt perhaps she'd even worn out that one.

Buffy realised then that the best thing to fill the latest silence was an apology.

"I really am sorry I didn't tell you about this sooner Mom" she said honestly "I just wanted to protect you"

"Protect me?" Joyce gaped "Buffy, honey, I'm the parent, I'm supposed to protect you" she smiled as she took hold of her daughters hand.

"Well, maybe now we can learn to protect each other?" the girl suggested, hoping her mother would accept it and let her do her much needed sweep of the Sunnydale cemeteries.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be okay" Joyce nodded her acceptance "but later, tomorrow, I have more questions I'm going to need answered"

"I understand that" Buffy nodded too "and we will, we'll do the whole mother-daughter Slayer question time thing, I promise"

"But you need to go...patrol...right now?" Mrs Summers stumbled over the unfamiliar term.

"Yeah" her daughter said, standing up, but her mother pulled on her hand.

"Buffy, please be careful" she all but begged of her little girl.

"I always am" the Slayer assured her with a smile, "always"

****

(A/N2 : Epilogue already posted!)


	27. EpilogueEver After

Chapter 27/Epilogue - Ever After

"Hi, is Spike around?" Buffy asked Jessica as she opened the front door.

"William!" the woman bellowed up the stairs as Buffy shifted uncomfortably on the doorstep. She had a feeling Jessica did not approve of her secrecy where her mother was concerned, that and Spike's own secrecy that was linked to her.

"Oh, hi" aforementioned bleach blond smiled at the girl beyond the door.

"Hey" Buffy smiled back "I was gonna patrol now and I thought...?" she trailed off realising Jessica still stood there, beside her son, not looking completely happy.

"Mum?" Spike looked on his mother with pleading eyes, and after a moment of awful silence and anticipation, the future Mrs Giles caved in.

"Go" she said simply "just be careful, okay?"

"I promise" Spike said with a smile, grabbing jacket and getting out of the door, with Buffy, in two seconds flat.

The walk back to the cemetery was quiet as both the Slayer and her boyfriend had much to think about and neither was sure what to say about the evenings events so far. Deep in thoughts, Buffy was almost unaware that she was giggling.

"What's so funny, Slayer?" Spike wanted to know, and she couldn't help herself.

"Other than your middle name being Rupert?" she smiled, causing him to duck his head in embarrassment - hardly a fitting name for a guy who fancied himself to be bad.

"Oh, you noticed that" he said quietly.

"Yeah" Buffy nodded and desperately tried to hold in a further fit of giggles.

"I see now why I have it" Spike realised "never made sense before, poncy name" he grumbled and the Slayer laughed more.

"It's not that funny" the bleach blond complained, secretly stifling a laugh himself.

"Oh, I'm not laughing at you anymore" Buffy assured him "I was just thinking, well, I never thought things would turn out this way" she explained as they reached the gates of the graveyard, she turned to face him.

"What way is that, pet?" he wondered aloud.

"Well, Cordelia moved away and I was so depressed cos she was like my best friend ever" Buffy told him "but here I am, little over one month later and I'm the complete opposite of depressed-girl, I'm like totally-happy-girl" she grinned, before listing all the wonderments in her life "Giles has a fiancee and a son, which is all kind of miraculous, then there's Willow and Xander who have finally got it together, Mom and Dawn know about the whole Slayer deal so no more lies which is cool and..." she smiled with some mischief "I'm dating possibly the greatest guy in the whole world"

"Really?" Spike smirked with satisfaction "that last part?"

"No, not really" Buffy admitted with a straight face, watching his own face drop dramatically "I didn't mean to say 'possibly', I meant to say 'definitely'" she covered with a smile, of course that was what she'd meant to say all along, she loved to wind him up.

"You're a vixen, Slayer" Spike told her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her close, his voice dropping as he continued "but I'm completely in love with you - did I mention that?"

"I think you did" Buffy told him, her smile never wavering "but maybe you should tell me again just to be sure"

He smiled too at that.

"I love you Buffy" he said as seriously as ever, looking right into her eyes.

"I love you too Spike" she breathed, hoping against hope that no vampires jumped out of the bushes right now, as the couples lips came together in a passionate kiss.

When they finally came up for air, Buffy was still smiling.

"Y'know with all the weird stuff in my life" she sighed "and I still manage to end up living a cliché"

"What cliché's that, luv?" he asked , still holding her close in his arms and looking into her hazel eyes.

"Falling for the guy next door" she told him, causing a smile on his face as wide as hers.

"Oh, that" he said, his crystal blue eyes dancing "I happen to think that's a very nice cliché, as clichés go" he told her.

"Yeah" she sighed contentedly again "I always like the part where they live happily ever after"

"And so will we, pet" he assured her with a squeeze.

"How do you know that?" she wanted to know, it was beautiful but could it really be true? That she, the Slayer, could live happily ever after with this wonderful man?

Spike looked thoughtfully at the moonlit sky for a moment, and then he smiled once more.

"I don't know it" he said simply, looking back into her face, "I feel it. Don't you?"

"Yeah" she replied with a small nod, a smile spreading over her own lips, "Yeah, I think I do"

~~ THE END** ~~**

****

A/N : Hope everyone liked the end, you could always let me know what you thought by leaving a review (subtle hint) ;-) 

I'll be back soon with a new Spuffy story...possibly more than one actually...


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